The Story of Kevin: Frozen Wings
by WillTheYordle
Summary: Kevin, an 18 year old high school senior is bored with his current life. He finds everything about reality easy and wants something that would give him a challenge. But after hearing about the teenage boy who had been missing for months, then showed up with wings, and then disappeared again after only a day, Kevin takes it upon himself to solve the mystery.
1. Chapter 1: Supernatural Investigation

**Alright here we go, chapter 1! Nothing too major this time, meet Kevin and his life before I twist it and make it strange!**

Chapter One:

I don't have a lot to worry about in my life, to be perfectly honest I have only one complaint about the life I live. I get good grades, have understanding parents, no siblings, and have the computer knowledge to go program for some company and make a living. I'm 18 years old and going to be graduating from my high school in a few weeks, the life a lot of people I know would kill for, and I can't say I wouldn't ether. My only issue is that it's too boring and easy.

After waking up and taking my shower I looked out the window, we had just finished a long stretch of constant downpours and today was finally the day the clouds parted for some sun. I smiled; it always helped my mood and perspective on life if the day looked brighter. My parents were both asleep so most days I have to make my own breakfast, not that I minded; I usually woke up two hours before my bus arrived so I often entertained myself by making something interesting and original. Today I felt like going for peanut-butter eggs and a blueberry muffin, an experiment I'd done before, I just have to dip the eggs in the peanut butter instead of cooking them in it.

Taking my plate over to the couch, I turned on the local news, it wasn't much different from what it normally was, some war in one part of the world, some guys who died downtown, a fire in the southern part of the county. I ate in silence, watching the weather report, traffic (despite the fact it had no relevance to me at all.) Eventually I packed up my stuff and headed out to the bus before I saw all the new news, there had been a lot of things going on recently and it actually took the full two hours to cover all of the stories.

Only wearing shorts and a T-shirt, it was easy to feel the suns warmth on my skin, even though it was only seven in the morning. I made sure to have a playlist of very happy upbeat songs playing, just to make sure my day wasn't spoiled. Until the bus arrived, I stared at the sky and thought about the anime I had just finished watching the night before, I was still trying to wrap my mind around the ending, which threw me completely. Often times I lose myself for days at a time when watching something new, figuring out possible twists, and thinking about how it went long after it finished. By doing with repeatedly I had earned the nickname, space-cadet.

I went straight to my calculus class, meeting up with my friend Jason on the way there, making sure to shake hands and ask about how each other were doing.

"So Kevin, did you finish watching it?" He asked me eagerly. I sighed and nodded.

"That ending, I don't know if I'll ever by okay with how that went." Jason laughed.

"I know, there isn't a single person I know who _doesn't_ hate it, such a bad way to end a series." I shook my head in distaste, agreeing with him.

"So you all ready for the final in a few days?" Jason grinned ear to ear and started to laugh in the back of his throat, his evil face.

"Are you kidding? I've spent the last two weeks preparing for every possibility for every final, I have all the scholarships I need, as long as I ace these finals, I can go anywhere I want!"

"Almost anywhere," I corrected him, "but that's awesome!" I gave him a fist bump in celebration.

"What about you, still going for the 'get to Microsoft and help rule the world plan?'"

"Yeah, I don't plan on doing anything too crazy with my life unless it presents a genuine challenge that catches my interest."

"So attempting to take over the whole world doesn't count?" Jason teased. I stuck my tongue at him.

"I may be seeking a challenge but I'm not an evil mastermind! Get the idea that they're together out of there!" I attempted to give him a hit to the head but he quickly ducked.

"Alright man, I give up."

Classes were the same as always, pressure for the final exams, new material on top of whatever review packets were assigned to us by our teachers, and I had it all down and could have taken a test on it by the end of class, an example of how fast I learn things and can use the information. I'm careful not to brag about it, I still want friends after all.

Three more classes came and went undergoing a similar lesson plan as my calculus class, and although I didn't find myself falling asleep at any point during the day, I had to keep myself from working on programing code on a spare sheet of paper that would take my focus away from my lessons, and I was relieved when lunch finally came around.

Since I was too lazy to pack my own lunch earlier, I was forced to eat one of the terrible lunches provided by the school, and hopefully for the last time. At least it was corn dogs today, and they somehow turned out decent, but everyone suspected it was because they were from the local store.

After spending the two dollars, I took my lunch over to the far corner where are little happy crew, and I mean the more crazy, insanity style of happy, sat. In addition to Jason, we had Penella, Zack, Alex, and Kelly, all with their own style of crazy.

"I'm telling you Alex, the best way to start a fire is with the biggest explosion you can to make a show out of it!" Alex, who was attempting to claw his hair out, was taking deep breaths so he didn't turn poor Kelly into a pile of ashes.

"All I'm saying is that there doesn't have to be this massive bonfire for roasting _s'mores!_" I looked at Jason in confusion.

"Want to explain to me how this happened?" I tilted my head in the direction of Alex and Kelly to emphasize, Jason shrugged.

"I don't know man, one second Alex was talking about the camping trip he's going on with his folks after the school year ends, and then the next minute Kelly is telling us the best way to deep-fry a s'more." I rolled my eyes at how classic the situation was for us.

"You know what Kelly, if Alex ever invites you to a camping trip, you can show him why an explosive bonfire is the best way to cook s'mores, until then, can we please let Alex finish?" Alex flashed a small look of gratitude towards Zack before burying his head in his arms for a few moments.

"Alright, in addition to the park wide s'mores fest, there are a lot of hiking trails and museums to walk through, and for the thrill seekers in my family," he glared at Penella, "there is some intense zip lines and cave exploration adventures."

"Dude, I think we all know that those cave adventures are gonna be a bust." Alex buried his head in his hands again; obviously knowing it was true but was intentionally hiding it from his sister, who in turn started at Alex angrily.

"I thought you said that cave adventure was going to be dangerous, that I may not come out alive!" The rest of us laughed.

"Knowing you Penella, you probably won't!" My comment only made us laugh harder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Penella's face was completely red from anger. It took us a few minutes to finally calm down, and that's when Zack pulled a serious question that caught everyone's attention.

"So, did you guys hear about that missing high school kid who re-appeared yesterday?" Everyone was immediately focused and listening. Besides being the person who kept Alex from killing Kelly, he loved supernatural tales and often finds the crazy hidden between the lines of what the news censors out. Although we've had restricted him to only bring up storied that were serious and had some merit to them thanks to some stories that were particularly out of it. Zack respected the desire of the group, and only came with a story once a month, and half were determined bogus anyway, but the last few actually were very close to the truth, which is why we listened so closely. I was the first to chime in.

"I heard about it, something about him showing up for a day then supposedly running off to France." Zack shook his head.

"Not according to what his brother said, he claimed that the kid flew off, with wings and then disappeared."

"Did you say _wings_?" Kelly said in amazement.

"This sounds bogus." Alex commented.

"So did I, but a few online streams were cut off last night because of government intervention, something tells me that it wasn't just because of illegal activity."

"So, do we have any idea where the guy is now?" Penella asked. Zack shook his head.

"No, and that's what made this more believable, his ID wasn't used at any airport anywhere and no one can seem to track his cell phone, it's like it dropped off the planet!" Everyone was silent, unsure of what to say probably, I know I had no idea. Unable to think of something else to say, the bell rang for lunch to end and we all left for our next classes

"We really should look into this one, I hate to say it, but Zack may have something big here." Jason admitted on the way to our last class of the day.

"You really think so? I mean don't get me wrong, It's great he has these facts, but I really hope it's all wrong."

"Me too man, this is seriously messed up, but what if it is true? Where could he have gone off to?" I punched him in the arm.

"Dude don't creep me out, I have enough problems sleeping at night!" Jason rubbed his arm, pretending to be hurt.

"Well I thought you _wanted _something to spice us your life, but hey if you're not interested in checking this out…" I shook my head regretfully.

"As much as this creeps me out, this is the kind of thing I'm looking for, as long as it turns out to be true of course."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and after school everyone agreed to let me confirm the facts and let Zack gather as much information as possible before proceeding with any action. My bus ride passed slowly, I felt myself wanting this to be over, find some reasonable explanation about why the teen disappeared and put this whole thing behind me, but then half of me also wanted this to be true and I would have something.

My thoughts were racing all around my head long after I got home and started checking the facts. Finding things was hard, since it was mostly chat room and comment speculation more than anything trustworthy. I made a note of who the commenters were and looked them up, and all of them who had similar information as Zack checked out to be legitimate. I really was starting to get freaked out, some kid growing wings and then disappearing? Seemed a lot like a government cover-up.

My mom called me down for dinner, taco night, and I took a deep breath, somewhat calming myself down. _This isn't something to get worked up over, a teenage boy is missing, there _has _to be a reasonable explanation for why he's missing._

I decided to go straight to bed after dinner, since tomorrow was Saturday and I would have more time to sit back and think this through in a more logical fashion. Of course, since I have a hyperactive brain, sleep didn't come easily, and I spent some time pondering possibilities as to ways someone could disappear without a trace, but there was always some fact that didn't fit right, something that had to be left out of the equation. I slapped myself on the head. _Forget this for now!_ I insisted to myself. I turned off my lamp and slowly drifted into sleep.

I woke up to brightness instead of the usual shades of dark that greeted me in the morning. My first thought was _great, my mom opened my curtains without asking again, _since I always make sure to close them before going to bed. Upon opening my eyes to get up and correct the problem so I could get back to sleep, I woke up instantly, shocked to find myself not in my room, but some strange white room.

The room was blank, and bright, the only things in the room were my bed, a red light switch where my door was supposed to be, and several posters around the room, all different colors.

_I'm so dreaming, time to pinch myself!_ All I was rewarded with was a sharp pain in my butt where I had pinched and the pleasure of being stuck in the room with no answers. I wondered if this was somehow the answer to that boy's disappearance. All my instincts told me yes, and instead of a feeling of panic, I felt a rush of pleasure and victory that I had solved the mystery. I felt like dancing, I had solved the mystery of what happened to the boy! So where was he?

The last thought stopped me, he wasn't here, in fact, I was the only one in the room. From the center of the room I did a 360, scanning the whole room a second time to see if I had missed anything. Sure enough, on the wall next to the switch was a paper note attached to the wall. Slowly walking over, I opened the folded note.

_Choose your destiny._

Great, like I haven't seen _that_ line before, totally original, why can't the guys behind this come up with something a little _less _cryptic, like choose where you're going? Or perhaps how to get there, and how to actually know _how to choose_ where you're going, instead of leaving you hanging with some stupid useless note that will lead you to making some decision sending you to who knows where!

_Fine, if that's how it's going to be, I guess I have no choice, I'll figure this out myself!_ And just like that, the letters on the note shifted and changed, as if reacting to my ranting thoughts, forming new words, directions!

_Place your hand on a color, and then go flip the switch._

"Thank you for actually being reasonable!" I shouted, still slightly annoyed that I was in this situation in the first place.

I looked at the colors of poster; there were seven, blue, purple, green, yellow, red, pink, and black. No symbols of any kind to give me a hint as to where each color might send me.

_When in doubt, go for the closest option._ With that plan in mind, I touched the black poster, then walked back and flipped the switch, and then immediately blacked out.

I blinked open my eyes, slowly at first, I felt like I had been ran over with a truck, that was the cargo of a spaceship, towing Jupiter at the speed of light. I grabbed my head and tried to get into a sitting position. The first thing I noticed is that I wasn't in my pajamas, but instead dressed in the clothes I had worn the previous day. The second thing I noticed was that the sky was a dark red with a giant yellow coin in the horizon. _WHERE THE FUCK AM I?_

**Yup so that's the first chapter guys! Hope you enjoyed it and make sure to leave me feedback, I really appreciate it and it helps me get better! See you all next week for more action with Kevin!**


	2. Chapter 2: Monkey Dealings

**Alright now we get into the fun part, Kevin's first actual deal! (Someone please help him…) And we also get to meet Kevin's lovely asset! I hope everyone reading this is done monkeying around, because this is about to get real!**

Chapter Two:

I blinked a few times, trying to see if this was just one big trick on my eyes. Nope, the sky was still red, and there was a large golden coin on the horizon. To my right I noticed a taxi buzz by me, although it looked like it was from a previous generation rather than from any modern day design. _This is so odd, I have no idea where the hell I am but at least I have somewhere I can go to now. _I thought to myself as I managed to stand up.

I started walking in the direction that the taxi had driven off in, thinking to myself that the coin was a lot closer than it looked, even though I had my doubts because of how big that would have to make it. Why couldn't I have been dropped off a little closer to some civilization? I started to realize how much I hated this situation, but not because I'd just been whisked away to some other world, but because whoever did it didn't have the sense to drop me off someplace reasonable! I shook a clenched fist in front of me. I hated long walks, by the end my brain usually hurt.

I took a few deep breaths, calming myself down and recollecting my thoughts, taking a second to fully analyze my situation. I had no idea where I was, although it was clear that I was no longer on Earth. (Because Earth totally has a red sky.) I checked my right front pocket, taking out my cell phone and realizing that I had also taken out some sort of card on the back of it. Flipping over my phone, I found a black card with a classic era looking sun inside of a circle in the middle of the card. The left side of the card contained a symbol which was all too familiar from my anime past, and the bottom right side read, "Miyoko."

I felt my eyes start to widen and the shock set in, I knew where I was and started to panic, this couldn't be happening, the gold coin, the Midas card in my pocket, the very scenery around me matching the financial district; I was more than just a little screwed. _Why couldn't I be sent to someplace sunny with a beach, losing my future wasn't on my agenda for this week._

Fighting for control of my emotions, I continued my deep breaths as I started to walk, wondering how I got here and more importantly, _when_ did I get here. I didn't want to be caught up in the mess of the C event, which would be just too much for me to handle so quickly, and then if I went bankrupt, what would happen to me? Hell, when was the C event anyhow? I didn't remember any calendars pointing to a date but it may have been just my faulty memory. Besides that, does the bank have my future now? I was overwhelmed and couldn't collect myself, I sat down and let my vision cross for a few moments, letting my mind blank out, knowing that I needed to do so.

After waiting for fifteen seconds and both mentally and physically slapping myself, I stopped walking and looked around, there wasn't anyone in the area, yet, and there was no telling if Masakaki had noticed my sudden appearance in the district. Since my card was just a normal card, I was forced to walk the distance to the bank of Midas Plaza, to find out what I could, and if I had a deal scheduled. _Damn my thoughts are flying way too fast, get it together Kevin!_

"It's a very rare occurrence for an Entre to find his way into the financial district without me his first time." I turned around to find a tall figure dressed in a black suit and top hat, holding a staff and grinning widely, it didn't take a genius to figure out who it was. _And of course things don't go any slower, dammit!_ I thought his comment seemed a little on the sarcastic side but I wasn't sure. With Masakaki, it was near impossible to tell anyhow.

"I guess you could say I just, ended up here." I replied sarcastically, although it was technically the truth.

"That you did, good job on making it here without me! Come along now, your first deal is about to start, I'll explain everything afterward." _Oh shit, like, right now? What the hell!_

We were now in the middle of an empty street, where exactly we were I had no idea, and although I could speculate based on Masakaki's outfit that we were in the Japanese Financial District, there was no way for me to be one hundred percent sure. In front of me standing on the other end of the street were two figures, one looked human, average male, and the other was a giant ape that stood at least a foot taller than him, and was half machine. _Talk about your monkey business, this deal is going to drive me bananas._

"Alright, so what do I do know?" In truth, I knew how to fight and what to do when using an asset, but I had completely blanked on how to actually summon my asset, I was too busy trying to process the information coming in rapid fire.

"Swipe your fingers over you Midas card first!" I did as he instructed, and with a flash of light, a girl about five foot six floated about six inches off the ground in front of me before touching the ground.

"Well, hello." Was literally all I could come up with at the time.

"What's my name, it should say on the front of your Midas card." Was her simple reply.

"Oh right," I looked down at my card, "It says Miyoko, and I'm Kevin."

"Miyoko, interesting, all right a pleasure Kevin, shall we get started?" _She doesn't waste any time. Can't anyone in the Financial District slow down for two seconds?_

Miyoko from her appearance looked to be about my age, dressed in a dark blue V-neck short-sleeve that had a long diagonal yellow stripe and a knee long plain light blue skirt. She had long dark blue hair in two pigtails that stretched down to her hips, and light blue eyes that were cold and ready for combat.

"I guess so, but I don't know anything about you."

"Don't worry about it, follow my instructions and we'll be just fine." My face fell into a 'really, just trust you' sarcastic look, not believing that I was just supposed to blindly follow my asset, who I had just now met. I turned to ask Masakaki when we were to start, and if I could have some time to prepare, but he was already bowing in farewell.

"Good luck!" He said cheerfully before vanishing. _Dammit, just like him too, nothing to do about it now I guess, better get used to the speed of things around here. _I turned back to my opponent, and noticed two circles that closely resembled eyes clashing into each other, and my Midas card releasing a glowing ring, and the announcement that caught me off guard.

"_Open deal." _What, goddammit! _Why did I let myself get caught off guard _again?

In a flash the giant ape was up in the air, jumping a good fifteen feet with muscular arms raised high. I ran to my right, hoping to dodge the opening attack, barley getting far enough away before the creature slammed into the ground where I was previously standing, missing me but still sending enough force to send me rolling a few feet. I looked back, noticing that the cyber-ape had left a small crater, that thing had some power!

"We need to counterattack!"

"Err, right! Micro one-hundred thousand!" I shouted, waving my hand over my card to make the investment, sticking to the minimum amount, something I would probably continue to do for the rest of the deal, since I had zero awareness of how much money I had outside of the scoreboard, and from the looks of it, I only had about ten million to work with give or take.

Miyoko's hands turned a dark blue, and dozens of small, sharp ice shards came flying out of her hands, streaking toward the opposing entre. His giant ape attempted to leap in front of the shards but wasn't quite fast enough, missing the asset by inches and continuing forward. The opposing entre dodged to the side at the last second, causing the ice shards to miss him. _Well that didn't work. _Then I noticed the shards were coming back around, without the knowledge of my opponent. _Heat seeking Ice Shards, talk about awesome!_ I had to use this opportunity while I still had the element of surprise.

"Again, Micro one-hundred thousand!" More ice shards erupted from Miyoko's hands, flying at my opponent. This time, his ape blocked my frontal attack, perfectly in position to take every single shard with a yellow energy barrier, protecting him from the attack. Behind him however, I heard a scream of pain from behind the cyborg when the first shot had hit its mark. Looking past the ape, my opponent had fallen to his knees and was slowly getting up.

"One powerful asset you have there man, it's a shame I'll have to beat you anyway." I ignored the taunt and went for another hundred-thousand investment, and this one was also blocked by my opponents asset.

Both he and his asset charged at the same time, and I started running away from them with Miyoko close behind, seemingly unable to fly. Looking behind me, I noticed that the cybernetic asset was faster than me, forcing to stop them with a micro to prevent an up close brawl, one I would surely lose. But unfortunately, every time my attack finished, he would just charge at me again. He repeated this for a good while, and I was losing money fast, quickly reaching the point where one mezzo would finish me off and force me to go bankrupt. _I can't keep up this strategy._ I thought swiping my hand over my Midas card to try and counterattack.

"Shoot this one above him; we need to buy some time for ourselves for a new plan. Any idea what your mezzoflation does?" I asked as I swiped my hand over my card.

"It freezes the ground in the surrounding area around me, the more you invest the stronger and wider the freeze." The ice shards flew into the sky, and were easily intercepted before they could reach the target.

"So in theory, if we could freeze the ground while those two are separated, we could end this?" Miyoko nodded.

"A sound plan, once I agree with, but the attack is easily dodged if you jump over the initial shockwave or block that section of the blast, so how do you plan on catching them off guard?" I didn't get much of a chance to reply, I heard a micro call from my opponent, sending the robotic fists of the ape flying at me. I was so shocked by this maneuver that neither myself nor Miyoko had time to react, the fists slamming me hard in the chest and crashing several feet away. Thinking fast, I managed to scrape together a pretty desperate and pathetic plan.

"For starters, let's get off the street; we need to think they have us cornered." I ran down the street away from my opponent and into an alley with Miyoko close behind me, barley managing to escape the next round of flying fists, which plowed into the wall next to me.

The alley wasn't too long, and it was surely too narrow to dodge from side to side. _This is not only suicidal but stupid too, this may just be the worst plan I've ever come up with, we don't have the room to do what I wanted!_ I looked towards Miyoko, who had turned around and was watching the entrance with a glaring expression. At least she was calm.

"Alright, this is a little closer than I had intended, any ideas on execution?" Miyoko looked at me with a look that made me want to curl and die.

"You mean you didn't think this one through?"

"I did!" I retorted sharply. "But that last attack forced us into an alley too small for what I had in mind." The asset grumbled something I couldn't make out and turned back towards the entrance where the giant ape and his master were entering.

"Congratulations, you just cornered yourself. For a rookie you put up a good fight, but don't worry man, this is your first time, don't get too upset. Panic can make people do some silly things sometimes, you'll learn quickly!"

"Well excuse me mister hotshot, if I recall you were the first one to take a direct hit!" I needed to keep him talking, needed time to think of a fix to the plan, but I couldn't sit too long, the clock was going to run out soon.

"A lucky shot, an achievement for many, but unlike them, you've put yourself in a position to go bankrupt, and I although I don't want to do it, I'm not going to just sit around and do nothing, mezzoflation two million!" Suddenly, his beast multiplied what seemed like twenty times, half of them jumping towards me, the other half running on the ground rushing me. _Now or never, hope I have enough for this!_

"Mezzoflation one million!" I swiped my hand over the card, running right at my opponent, away from the apes in the sky and right towards the ones charging me. Miyoko's hands went from the dark shade of blue they had been to a somewhat lighter tone, then she hit the ground on her knees, slamming her closed fists down and sending a large shockwave of ice out in all directions, then dashing forward, avoiding getting totally crushed by the falling behemoths, but still having her legs turned into smashed goop.

The icy shockwave charged forward, seemingly without the knowledge of my opponent since the charging army made no attempt to block the attack, and stopped all of the others on the ground, freezing them totally, allowing me to slip under them and face my opponent, who was frozen with an expression of shock.

"Landing Flash Freeze only refunds the investment since it isn't intended to be a damage attack, so it doesn't give you a profit! You need to hurry and attack while you have the chance!" Miyoko cried from behind, stuck under the now frozen cybernetic asset. Nodding in confirmation, I charged a direct attack and slashing my opponent, (also frozen!) forced to charge for a new direct upon every blow. The blade was short, but it did what it needed to, quickly returning my lost cash. _One more shot and I win this!_ I thought slamming down for one last direct, when my blade disappeared suddenly, and the ice holding my opponent melted.

"Closing, you lost." _ You have got to be kidding me. _I shook my head in disappointment as the last of the ice melted and my opponent started moving again, slowly rolling his shoulders and turning around to me.

"Not bad dude, that last second mezzoflation saved you from going bankrupt, I gotta say you have some mad skills as a beginner. I totally wasn't expecting it!" As the guy started laughing hysterically, I noticed Miyoko slowly get up, her feet and lower legs reforming from black goop, then both assets disappearing into their respective Midas cards.

"Thanks, you didn't do that badly yourself. I'm Kevin by the way."

"My name's Hisaki, sounds like your family is foreign, I'd ask how your family ended up here but…" We both turned to the fading scoreboard, and it almost looked like a tie, Hisaki only winning by a fraction of a percent.

"That has to be the closest deal I've seen in a while, not bad both of you!" Came Makakaki's voice from behind us.

"As always mister Hisaki, your attacks were violently flawless, and you did well for your first deal mister Tanner. Shall I schedule your next deals?"

"I would greatly appreciate that, thank you Masakaki." Hisaki gave a polite bow.

"Mine as well please." Both of us were taken back to the plaza, and Hisaki waved farewell, saying that he hoped we would meet again someday, leaving in one of the district taxis.

As I watched that taxi drive off, I wondered what I was going to do. Even if I hadn't left my own world, I was in another country without an I.D. or a place to stay. Money wasn't going to be an issue thank god, but everything else had me concerned. I stood on the side of the road wondering what to do.

"What's up, you seem like you don't know what to do. You know you can go back home now right?" Came the half robotic, half muffled voice of Miyoko from within the Midas card.

"That's the problem Miyoko, going home could be problematic." I replied sadly.

"Why, did something happen in the real world before you came here?"

"I guess you could say that, this is the Japanese financial district right?"

"Yes, but why would you ask me that, you should know already."

"You'd think that, but I kind of just ended up here, and I have no idea how."

"What do you mean you have no idea how?" Miyoko asked in annoyance.

"I mean that one moment I was sitting in my room back in the U.S. and the next thing I know I wake up here in the Japanese financial district!" I took a minute to think about my situation. Based on everything that's happened so far, it would be safe to assume that I wasn't in the same world anymore. I would need to somehow confirm it before I could be totally sure, but it seemed like a safe guess.

"What, were you kidnapped and dragged to Japan by a bunch of thugs?" I stared at my pocket. _How in hell would an asset know anything about that? Assets are supposed to have limited knowledge of the real world!_

"No, that was the actual truth. One second I was in my home, and the next I was here, like I teleported a continent into another universe or something."

"Forgive me if I start thinking you're the most insane entre ever."

"I wouldn't blame you. Look I know how crazy it sounds but I'm tired, I'd rather start figuring this out after some sleep, although I should probably tell you that I kind of have a goal."

"A goal?" Miyoko asked curiously.

"Yeah, before I warped, or whatever this is, I was looking for someone, a teenage boy who was missing for months that turned up for a day before disappearing again." _Was it my desire to find him that made this happen?_ I managed to flag down a taxi.

"Do you think he's somewhere in Japan?" Miyoko asked as I climbed in.

"Where to boss?" Asked the driver as I got settled and secured.

"Any park, you choose I really don't care."

"As you wish boss." The taxi sped off, leaving the financial district and entering the real world, where the sun was setting. _The end of my old life, and man did _that_ sound incredibly cheesy._

"I don't know, but if he is I'm going to find him, otherwise me ending up here is somewhat pointless!" I smiled, that being as much enjoyment as I could muster at the current moment.

"Wait, so meeting me was a waste of time? I might need to freeze your mouth off!" Miyoko flared.

"Don't overreact! Meeting you is definitely a good thing!" I quickly said in defense. Miyoko didn't respond, and I leaned my head back, gazing out the window as the city lights streaked by. _Today lasted all of an hour, but I feel like I need to sleep for a week!_

I was dropped off at a relatively small park, left alone with nothing but the clothes on my back and my Midas card. Personally, I had no idea where I was, and for tonight it didn't matter. With the rush of today's events calming down, I felt like I hadn't slept at all. Walking towards the center of the park, I picked out a tree surrounded by bushes, laid myself down with my head rested against the tree, and drifted into sleep.

**So if you caught the monkey pun at the start, good for you! I'm happy none of you have to read the draft I wrote at 2am, holy fudge did I need some sleep then! Don't even ask what it was before, I don't have it saved and I never wanna see it again! See you all next week! GO BANANAS!**


	3. Chapter 3: Japan, Almost!

**Hey guys, sorry this one is being posted so late, was so focused on chapters further on I almost forgot I had to edit this! Glad we're three chapters in though, it seems like the first two are really hard to write. Word of warning, this one is going to be a little slow, gotta drop the pace a little for some explanation. I hope your head doesn't spin too much ;)**

Chapter Three:

The next morning I was woken up by the sun rising over the tops of the city buildings, the light managing to sneak its way past every leaf on every tree to blind me for a few seconds in the early morning, causing me to slowly wake up and stretch.

As I rubbed my eyes, the events of yesterday slowly came back to me, and it slowly dawned on me what kind of situation I was in. Thankfully my loss didn't seem to be having any impact on my life so far, but there really wasn't much for me to lose anyway. _Wait, what's that I feel on my…_ I put my hands up to my head to find a bird had done its business on top of me. I didn't know whether this was just bad luck or a result of my loss, but I was going to bet on the first. Using the spare towel I kept in my back pocket for emergencies such as this, I cleaned my hair up as best as I could. It wasn't easy; it was like it had been there for hours.

I slumped against the tree and folded my arms, trying to come up with a plan. The next step was obviously to get some food, and then find a place to sleep, but what afterward? I wanted to continue to investigate the disappearance of that boy across the country, but was he even here? And if he was, what was his name? Not to mention I still needed to find out if this was even the same universe as back home.

"Good morning Miyoko." I greeted, pulling out my Midas card from my wallet.

"Hello, what's going on?" She replied in that same strange voice that was normal for this kind of interaction from within the card.

"Nothing for now, but I have a feeling today is going to be interesting."

"Because you don't have anywhere to go?" Miyoko asked in observation.

"Exactly, and I don't think we'll be able to get away with sleeping in a park for two nights in a row." I slowly stood up and looked around, yawning and stretching to get myself fully awake and aware. In front of me was apparently the main trail, where I was lucky that no one had spotted me quite yet.

"Why don't you go get an apartment? With the cash you now have, it shouldn't be a problem." I realized she was right. Thanks to the Bank of Midas, I would have all the cash I needed to supply myself and get where I needed to go and survive in the world, which meant that the only other problem was navigating the city, which was where again? I assumed Japan, and I could only assume Tokyo, but I needed to be sure.

"Miyoko, a bit of a stupid question here, but do you know what city we're in?"

"If you didn't request anywhere other than a park then it's highly probable you were dropped off somewhere in Tokyo." Well that was that. I needed to start by getting something to eat, already hungry again even though it had only been a few hour from my meal with Hisaki back in the Financial District.

Finding some random Ramen shop on the corner just outside the park, I found that for some reason everyone was speaking English and I was having no trouble talking to people, while that came as no surprise to me, I was getting a lot of impressed and funny looks when I was talking to people, like I was a crazy person or had some big medal. I ordered something random off the menu, having only minor trouble with pronunciation, and sat down at an empty table in the corner, setting my Midas card next to my bowl.

"Hey Miyoko, any idea why I'm getting these funny looks?"

"It might have something to do with the fact that you're speaking perfect Japanese as an American, not exactly the first thing one expects." I started at my Midas card, able to see the colorful room Miyoko inhabited but unable to see Miyoko herself.

"Wait, you're saying I was speaking _Japanese _back there? But I don't know Japanese, am I speaking it now?"

"No, you're speaking English to me, but to everyone else you're speaking Japanese."

"How come you understand English?"

"It's because I'm your asset and it's what's most convenient for you." I began to eat, although I was more focused on this latest strange development. I didn't understand how this was possible, I had never taken a foreign language class in my life, nor had I even attempted to speak another language. The fact that I was pulling it off and that it was sounding like English to me was really strange. _Another mystery to add to the list, along with the five-hundred others that I have._

"Hey, Kevin!" I looked up to see Hisaki waving from the entrance to the restaurant. I waved back and he took the empty seat across from me to my surprise.

"Isn't a bit strange to be this friendly to someone you just were trying to kill last night, I mean I understand being friendly after the match but…" I intentionally avoided using the word deal to mask that I had been in the financial district, not because I wanted to conceal the fact that I was an Entre, but because it was still a little awkward for me to talk like one in a public setting.

"I know, but you were a fun opponent and are a cool dude, and when I meet someone I like, I can't help but be friendly!" I laughed nervously.

"Well no complaints here, nice to have a friend that you can talk to without looking crazy."

"Yeah I noticed you talking to your asset, that's not something you see every day you know. Mecha is a beast but not exactly the kind you can carry a conversation with."

"Yeah I can understand that." I replied before another mouthful.

"So I notice you have uh, a little something on your…" he pointed to the top of his head and I sighed.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you sleep in a park I guess." Hisaki looked confused.

"Why didn't you just go back to your place, I'm sure you don't get pooped on by birds there!" He laughed but I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I kinda don't have a place to stay." Hisaki stopped laughing.

"So is that why you wanted to go to the financial district in the first place?" I shrugged, inwardly happy for the excuse of a story.

"Yeah, part of the reason anyhow, but I haven't had a lot of time to search for a place." At least that much of the story was true.

"I know we just met and everything, but you could at least clean yourself up back at my place, and stay for a few days if you needed to."

"I would really appreciate that, and to be honest I have no idea how long I'm staying in Tokyo anyway." Hisaki laughed.

"Just don't plan on living there for the rest of your life okay?" I smiled.

"Yeah alright, and just so you know I think you're right, you are crazy for letting someone you just met into your home."

"I don't think I ever called myself crazy, just a halfway decent person."

"Crazy decent, I appreciate it either way; it makes my life a lot easier." We both laughed again before Hisaki got up to go order his meal. My eyes followed him for a few moments before going back to eating.

"That was very generous of him to offer you a place to stay." Miyoko observed with a tone of appreciation.

"I didn't think you would care about where I was as long as I wasn't losing any deals?" I managed to catch Miyoko rolling her eyes from within the card.

"Unlike many assets with strong personalities, I care deeply about the physical and emotional state of my entre without having a deep emotional attachment first; I want to make sure your living well."

"Let me guess, so I can focus more carefully on deals right?"

"Okay fine I'll admit you're right about that, but I like to know a little more just because I actually want you to be happy as well."

"Uh huh, and like Hisaki, you just met me." _Why is everyone so… trusting and caring?_ I had to admit that Miyoko actually did seem to care, and to be perfectly honest I didn't care what her reasons were, I was just glad to have someone to talk to who would actually listen, not just be a brick wall.

"By the way, I notice you didn't tell Hisaki the truth about yourself, why not?"

"I just met the guy, and despite him being nice enough to let us stay in his home I doubt he would believe me if I told him I just randomly showed up in the Japanese financial district from the U.S."

"Alright that does make sense, but won't that make things weird when you don't end up going anywhere during the day?"

"I don't plan on sitting around; I have a mission you know."

"Right, and would you explain what that mission _is_ exactly, you said you needed some answers in the taxi last night, but for what?"

"Back home, a boy showed up after being missing for a few months, he was only back for a day, but he had feathers for hair and wings, not just a costume either, actual wings that let him fly. After being at school for a day he disappeared again. My friends think it's some kind of government cover-up, and based on what just happened to me I don't that might be the truth." Miyoko looked speechless.

"That's, crazy! A human with wings, what kind of messed up deal did he make in his district?" I was going to give a detailed answer, but I noticed Hisaki coming back to the table.

"I think it's a little more complicated than that." I said simply, closing the conversation before Hisaki was back in earshot.

I continued eating as Hisaki sat down, and I could tell that he was resisting the urge to let his mouth water.

"You really love the ramen here huh?" I commented jokingly.

"Are you kidding? This place has the best ramen this side of the city and the best part is that it's reasonably priced! Not that it really matters though since we're both apart of the Financial District." He said the last part in a slightly lower voice.

"I suppose, but why ramen for breakfast?"

"I could ask you the same question." I shrugged in embarrassment.

"Honestly, I'm still new in town so I was just hungry for the first thing I could find that was reasonably editable." Hisaki raised an eyebrow.

"No dumpster diving?" Hisaki joked. A scoff came from Miyoko.

"I don't think I could live with the humiliation of knowing that my entre was digging through the trash for food when he has money for something to eat." Hisaki's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting Miyoko to talk.

"Your asset really has a strong personality." I sighed.

"Yeah, a real social butterfly, good for therapy but she can sometimes be a little bit of a pain. You know your motor mouth is probably going to get us hurt one of these days, attract the attention of someone unexpected!" From the expression on Miyoko's face I could tell she wanted to punch me.

"I found Hisaki to be a reasonable person, there isn't a reason why I shouldn't talk to him if we're going to be living together for a while." Hisaki leaned back in his chair.

"As far as I know, your asset is probably the only one to think that, every other asset that I've heard of having a personality rarely talk to anyone but their entre, and never to a stranger."

"Yes well at least it'll make table talks a little more interesting at least." I laughed.

"True enough! I'll just have to watch my manners around the lady though!"

Hisaki ate quickly, and as much as I wanted to carry a conversation, I was too busy thinking about my next move to worry about another topic, thankfully, it seemed Hisaki had it covered.

"So, what do you do for a living?" He asked.

"I'm a student, work part time at a pizza place back home, before I ended up in Japan, good grades and decent money, I get by pretty well." Hisaki seemed confused.

"Then why'd you come to Japan, sounds like your life back home is fantastic!" I sighed.

"I don't even know how I ended up here, one second I'm lying on my bed asleep and the next thing I know I'm here." A little vague, but it really wasn't a lie. We spent the rest of the meal getting to know each other a little better, where we went to school, our favorite things to do when we were younger, out plans and hopes for the future, Hisaki talked a bit about finding a girlfriend and I commented that I wasn't interested, which sparked us into a whole new conversation.

After a few hours, we left the ramen shop behind and headed for Hisaki's place, a small apartment only five minutes away. He said I could have the couch if I wanted, which I gladly accepted, and was left to relax and make myself at home while Hisaki left for his weekend job. Before he left I had noticed a computer in the corner of the room and asked if I could access the web, he gave me the thumbs-up before he left, leaving me and Miyoko to make ourselves comfortable.

The apartment was decently sized, having a small kitchen, a living area, a small bathroom, and a bedroom. For someone still in school, this was very nice; a result of his deals in the financial district no doubt. There wasn't anything that looked extremely expensive in the apartment, but it had complete sets of furniture, a small television, and of course the computer.

Sitting down at the desk, I went to the web and searched the current date, the first thing to check to see if something was different from my own world. It wasn't what you'd think to search of first, but I had a sneaking suspicion, call it a hunch since I ended up in the financial district. Back home, it was mid-April, the twenty-third if I remembered correctly. However, when I looked up the date on the computer, I was surprised to find that it was still mid-April, but in 2011 instead of 2014. _I must have traveled back in time; and if it really is as simple as that, I should still be able to access some of the old websites I visited back in those days._ Back in 2011, I was really obsessed with public chat rooms, and if I had really traveled back in time, in theory I would have been able to access those accounts, but the first one I tried was a bust, the account didn't work, and I remembered it perfectly.

After trying on that site several times I gave up and tried some other sites, all of them a bust. It made absolutely no sense at all, unless what I had done was more than travel back in time, and the realization stunned me even though it had been expected. Miyoko picked up on my expression quickly.

"What's up, did you find out what's going on?" She asked me calmly.

"Yeah, I just figured out what happened to me."

"That's good, so what _did_ happen to you?" I managed to relax and slump back in the chair, pulling out my Midas card so I could take to Miyoko face-to-face.

"I didn't just change countries; I've gone to a whole different universe, another reality of earth, and I'm sort of freaking out right now." Miyoko's eyes narrowed.

"Well panicking isn't going to help at all. Do you know how you managed to change universes?" I shook my head.

"I haven't the slightest idea how I did it, and that's what worries me."

"You're worried you won't be able to get home." Miyoko said softly after a brief pause.

"I suppose so wait, hey! Don't start feeling sorry for me yet!" I said in frustration. "I got here, I can get home!" Miyoko smiled.

"Well that was a good comeback, alright big shot; if you're going to get home I guess the first thing to do is figure out how you got here!" I shook my head, giving myself a few seconds to shake off the last bit of the minor shock left in my system. This wasn't the time to get depressed; this was the time for action. Now that I know what happened to me, I needed to get back home, and hopefully find that flying teenager in the process!

"Thanks for the pep talk Miyoko." I said smiling.

"I didn't do anything, but all the same happy to help, now get on it before I freeze your mouth!"

**Geez does Miyoko have a personality or what? Don't forget to leave your questions/comments/concerns or whatever else you guys come up with! (I know you guys are out there, let me know how I'm doing!)**


	4. Chapter 4: Breaking the Truth

**Man am I tired, whew, going to sleep now, hope you guys enjoy!**

Chapter Four:

I can't even count how long it's been since the pep talk Miyoko gave me about finding my way back home, and so far my search has turned up absolutely nothing. My deals had gone fairly well, winning about seventy percent of my deals. But something really struck me as odd, my loses didn't seem to have any effect on my life in the real world, no matter how big my losses were. I could only expect that my life back home was going to be what actually changed, not what happened to me here in this world, but it still didn't help soothe the constant feeling of frustration.

"Do you even know where you should be looking?" Miyoko had asked me a week later.

"Sure, search ancient legends about people who disappeared and came back ranting about other worlds. I guessed it would be a good place to start."

"That doesn't seem to have been very accurate." Miyoko had pointed out bluntly.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, but I don't have any ideas right now." I said with a dull edge to my voice.

"Maybe we should ask Hisaki and see if he knows anything about any of this."

"I could attract a lot of unwanted attention if too many people know that I'm from another universe, and even more if they found out I'm immune to the effects of the financial district. Despite Hisaki being a nice person, I don't want to drag him into that." Miyoko didn't pester me further about asking Hisaki, but instead gave me other ideas. We ended up going to public libraries, following sketchy leads, and even following Miyoko's suggestion and talking to some random person off the street about a boy with wings. Nothing has worked so far.

Despite my failure to find any reference to universe hopping or a winged teenager, it slowly occurred to me that Miyoko seemed to know more about the human world than any asset should. She didn't question me eating, and she's only offered me ideas and suggestions similar to another human being. In theory, according to everything I had read about assets back home, Miyoko shouldn't be _this_ close to human behavior. Most likely it was a result of me being from a different universe, which possibly caused an oddity in my asset not seen before. It wasn't concrete but it was my best guess. Not that I really cared where the behavior came from, because it was nice to have a reliable partner.

I shook off my straying thoughts and turned back to my current search, a repeated attempt to sift through news articles from around the world looking for a story about a kid showing up with wings. It was almost late into the evening and I hadn't come up with anything, not matter what website I looked at, no matter what article, there was nothing to be seen on the topic. I folded my arms across my chest and stared at the screen, wondering where to go from here since this was the twentieth site I had been to, and it was another bust.

It was clear that however I got here; it was a very well-kept secret and not one that was going to be easy to figure out. Logically, the next thing for me to do would be to talk to someone who was well informed about any clues, since all my previous methods weren't getting me anywhere. I sighed and scratched my head, wondering who I would talk to.

I was still in my chair thinking when Hisaki came through the door, back from his job at one of the local markets, I made sure to close the webpage as he came through the door, I doubt I could have explained an article written in French to him.

"Hey there Hisaki, how was work tonight?" I asked, turning around in the chair.

"A total drag, this one lady wouldn't stop insisting that our store was crap for not having soap made out of the 'finest materials known to man.'" He sighed heavily, his face looked drained and ready to sleep for a decade. I raised an eyebrow.

"I bet that was frustrating beyond belief."

"Our manager almost had to call the cops on the lady, it was ridiculous!" Hisaki shook his head and pulled a soda from the refrigerator, sitting down on the couch behind me.

"Sounds ugly."

"That woman must have problems in her life if she's willing to pick on a couple of store clerks." Miyoko commented in annoyance.

"She wasn't even satisfied when we told her _where_ to get the product she wanted! Man, it seems people these days are just getting more and more crazy." I looked at Hisaki sympathetically.

"Well you survived to sell another day! By the way, why do you even have a day job, doesn't the financial district get you everything you need?" Hisaki took a sip of his soda.

"I guess I just prefer to have some sense of normality in my life, since it's anything but, you know what I mean?" I nodded and turned back to the blank monitor. It made sense, if I was a part of an underground world like this back home, I would probably want to keep things as normal as possible to help offset the craziness of the financial district. Of course right now my life has pretty much turned into one giant crazy fest so normal was out of the picture until after my search ended and I got back home.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but what do you _search_ during the day while I'm out?" I was caught off guard by the question. Being so busy with my searching, I had completely forgotten to come up with a good cover story for my constant searching on the internet.

"Well…"

"I've searched through the browser history, and you've been looking at websites in all kinds of different languages, most of them about crazy myths and old legends!"

"Yeah I'm kind of searching for something, but so far I haven't been able to find it." I t was vague enough, but a truthful answer.

"What are you searching for? I can probably help, I used to study old legends and myths when I was a kid, don't remember a lot of it but I might be able to help." I was reluctant to answer, I didn't want to get Hisaki involved in this, and I started formulating my cover story in panic.

Miyoko had other plans.

"He's searching for anything connected to people entering other worlds. Kevin's goal is to leave our world to track someone down, but even he hasn't told me who just yet." Hisaki looked at my Midas card like he was talking to a crazy person.

"This has got to be about the lamest cover story I've ever heard, dude you better not be in some crazy cult or whatever." I saw Hisaki clench his soda can a little harder. Turning back around in my seat I glared at Miyoko.

"The truth had to come out sometime, better now while you haven't lied yet." I sighed and faced Hisaki.

"She's telling the truth dude. The story I told you two weeks ago wasn't far off, I really was sitting back at my home in the states, and then when I woke up I was in the financial district, but I wasn't kidnapped or anything, I just kinda woke up there after going through some kind of white room first." Hisaki was now looking back and forth between us like he was ready to call an insane asylum. Slowly I told both Hisaki and Miyoko the full story, about how Zack had discovered the story about the winged teenager, and how I was investigating him the night before I was transported to the financial district. Hisaki was slow to accept it at first, but after a few questions and laying down all the facts, he seemed to believe me, or I thought he did.

"Wow, you're one crazy messed up person man." I laughed nervously.

"Well that's one way to put it I guess, I just wish I had more solid proof to confirm my story, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to print anything." Hisaki leaned back, obviously thinking about if he truly believed me, that or he was contemplating whether or not to kick me out.

"So let me get this straight, you were searching for some strange kid with wings, and the next night you end up here with a Midas card in your pocket. And now that you've confirmed that the kid isn't here in this world, you want to try and move to the next world in order to find him?" I nodded.

"That just about sums it up, look if you're wondering whether or not to believe me I'll make it easy on you and just leave; I don't want to cause you any trouble with this." I stood up and prepared to leave, but Hisaki grabbed my wrist as I started to walk past.

"You're crazy I'll give you that, but if I've learned anything in my time in the financial district, it's to take leaps of faith. You can stay bro, and I'll even help you out. I know a person who specializes in hidden myths and legends, and I know a few info brokers that we can talk to, although you have to pay." He gave a light hearted smirk at me and held out his hand, I shook it almost immediately.

"Nice to have someone else I can count on, Miyoko's great to talk to but her ideas are about as good as dirt."

"I heard that! You're lucky I can't freeze your ears off right now!" I looked at my pocket and I could almost swear the Midas card was shifting ever so slightly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Over the next few days Hisaki managed to get ahold of his friend, but she told him that she would be unavailable for an interview for another month, which led us back into the pattern of searching even more websites and history books. The next few days were incredibly boring, although had a quick highlight when Hisaki took part in a deal, one he won, gaining quite a bit of money.

"Not a bad deal Hisaki, you and Mecha seem to be having a lot of success lately." Currently we were headed off to meet another friend of Hisaki's, one who happened to be a very well informed information broker, but not well known due to his absurdly high prices.

"Yeah we're doing very well right now, but I get this feeling that it won't be long before we encounter someone who will be able to beat our all-out style of attacks." I glanced behind me, where Mecha and Miyoko were walking behind us, expressionless but seemed to have an ear in on the conversation.

"Even if you do, I have a feeling you won't give up without a fight. By the way, are you sure this friend of yours can give us information?" Hisaki shrugged.

"His information hasn't been wrong yet, and there isn't anything that he doesn't at least have a lead about."

"Doesn't he charge absurd prices for his information though, something around fifty million no matter what the information?" Hisaki gave me a reassuring grin.

"We're childhood friends, trust me when I say that we can get this information for barley fifty thousand."

"That's really generous for someone who obviously wants to make a lot of money." Miyoko observed.

"He's a really cool dude, never refuses to help a close friend out, and we've done a lot for each other over the years." I felt slightly concerned that I was taking advantage of the friendship between Hisaki and his friend.

"You don't have to do this you know; we can always wait for your other friend to become available." Hisaki waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, this whole mystery has sparked my interest, I'm now just as equally interested in finding that winged kid, and sending you home!" I gave Hisaki a grateful smile.

"I really appreciate you being so helpful with this; I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Well I know, you'd be spending all of your time in a public library still doing your internet searches!" I laughed, knowing that he was right.

We met Hisaki's friend on a street corner near Midas Plaza, an area under the large bridge and was fairly deprived of people. Good for us since I didn't want to risk anyone overhearing what we were saying.

"Well, if it isn't my old friend Hisaki, good to see you buddy!" Hisaki's friend had been leaning up against one of the large pillars that held up the bridge, now he was walking towards us, giving Hisaki s number of high-fives and handshakes.

"How've you been Kotaro! It feels like I haven't seen you in ages!" Kotaro laughed.

"I believe the last time you contacted me was information about a girl, heard it didn't work out, sorry about that!" Hisaki shrugged.

"Win some lose some."

"In your case, it seems like you lose them all!" Hisaki didn't seem amused but Kotaro was laughing up a storm. After shaking his head, Hisaki introduced me.

"Kotaro this is Kevin, Kevin this is Kotaro a close friend of mine." Kotaro held out his hand.

"So I hear you're originally from the U.S. huh? Well allow me to greet you with some familiar hospitality." It felt good to shake hands with someone, I couldn't remember the last time, oh wait yes I could. It had only been a month or two.

"Yeah that's me, boy wonder from another world! Hisaki tells me you might be able to help me with that." Kotaro looked at Hisaki.

"As always my services aren't free." Hisaki rolled his eyes.

"I know, still appreciate the discount." The two exchanged the money using their Midas cards before Kotaro crossed his arms and looked at me seriously.

"Actually I do know a little something about this." I raised an eyebrow and suppressed the feeling of pure excitement rising up.

"Tell me everything." I insisted. Kotaro looked around before starting.

"Alright, this was a little hard to dig up, but about twenty years ago an entre with a decent amount of money somehow managed to get out of the financial district."

"He didn't go bankrupt?" I asked.

"No, in fact, when other people started asking about it to Masakaki, he told everyone that the bank of Midas was aware of the situation and that they had it under control. No further explanation was given and the same explanation is said every time someone asks. Most people believe that the bank doesn't want to admit that someone actually managed to escape with their money."

"But doesn't the bank hold a person's future?" Miyoko asked from behind me.

"That's the thing, it didn't seem like the bank was able to do anything at all, it wasn't like he disappeared from existence, he just disappeared without a trace!" This was starting to sound very familiar, too close to what happened back home, just without the reappearing part. But what didn't make sense was how the bank wasn't able to completely remove the future of the entre in question. There is no method to escape the financial district without the presence of a C event, and Japans hasn't hit yet, not based on the news now floating around the district about the new guy Kimimaro Yoga, and his asset.

"Could this mean that the bank _wanted _him to disappear, not that he escaped?" I asked. Kotaro shrugged.

"I don't know, it might be possible. I told you what I know, and I hope it helps. See you around Hisaki." With that, Kotaro turned and walked away from the plaza, disappearing into the city.

"That was informative; at least we now know that there is a link between the winged kid and the Bank of Midas." Miyoko crossed her arms. "But that still doesn't explain why he isn't here." I pressed a closed fist to my chin, thinking hard.

"Yeah, and I don't think it's because the kid is good at hiding, there's something going on here, and we need to talk to Masakaki about it."

_**Meanwhile, somewhere in the financial district…**_

"Yeah boss, I'm sure." Said a casually clothed young man, speaking into a dark golden ring, glowing with unfamiliar red symbols.

"If he's a jumper, that means there's another that needs to be dealt with. Do you know where he is from?" Asked a deeper voice, seemingly coming from the ring.

"I managed to catch some of their conversation at the end, I believe that the jumper is looking for a winged boy, probably close to his own age." The man could tell his boss was thinking about this carefully.

"I believe I know who he is referring to, and that means they're both from Gaia. I'll be there soon, I first have to finish interrogating my prisoner. Some incentive should make this go a little faster." The man could tell that his boss was about to do something risky.

"Forgive me sir, but I ask that you don't go overboard with your interrogation. Based on what I've seen from Kevin, I don't believe that the Jumpers have shown their true power to us." At first the man could sense intense anger coming from the ring, but it soon subsided, seemingly suppressed and replaced with calm feelings.

"Leave the details to me, you just do your job and collect data on Kevin so it will be easier to capture him."

"Yes sir."

**Was about to put the end notes as Zzz, since I'm about to- *falls asleep***


	5. Chapter 5: Cooking Poison

**Alright, time for Kevin's next deal, have a mentioned I hate snakes?**

Chapter Five:

After our meeting with Kotaro, I decided to head back to the bank plaza. With a deal scheduled for tomorrow afternoon so I would have a chance to ask Masakaki my questions about the Entre who went missing, and I needed to know more about my opponent so I wouldn't wash out and go bankrupt before I could ask.

After looking into him three days ago, I found that my opponent was a particularly rich Entre. Having nearly ten billion in his possession, he could use multiple Macros in a single deal which made him one of the most deadly opponents that I've faced in my time here. So far I've been able to accumulate roughly six hundred million, enough to pull out one strong macro if I can get a good enough opening.

I made sure to ask one of Hisaki's other contacts for information on my opponents asset, a poison based serpent creature that specialized in slowly lowering your cash amount over time with poison, then removing you of all your cash in one single attack. This man had an asset designed to bankrupt an Entre. I'd hate to see what future that asset represented. By the time I had completed all my research, I was wiped. Taking a taxi back to the real world, I headed back to the apartment, stretching as I came in the door.

"We're back, how have things been while I've been out?" Instead of an answer however, I could hear clanging of pots and pans from around the corner. Getting past the small entry hall and into the kitchen, I found Hisaki with a frustrated expression surrounded by burnt food and numerous pots and pans with failed experiments.

"How…" he moaned.

"How what?"

"How do you do it!" Hisaki got to his feet and grabbed my shoulders. "How do you make so many different tasty foods!" I have a concerned smile for him, knowing what this was about, kind of.

Normally, I found that Hisaki orders takeout food for most of his meals. He goes for a semi-balanced diet, but he doesn't cook anything on his own. The most work he's done with an oven is put a pizza in it. So about two weeks after I had settled in, I decided to start cooking and experimenting with what Hisaki had (Which wasn't very much.) in order to make something new. I didn't have a lot of experience cooking, but my experimentation back home had given me experience in creating good food. So over the last two months or so we've been eating very delicious, but strange, home cooked meals.

Recently though, Hisaki has expressed a desire to learn my secrets since he knows I won't be staying forever. I've been reluctant to try and teach him, since half the time I don't even know what I'm doing myself. And based on the current state of Hisaki, it seems my concerns were well placed.

"To be honest man, I have no clue how I do it, I just kinda throw things together and it works somehow." Hisaki sighed and gave out a wail of frustration, which was laughable and almost made me burst into laughter.

"You'd be better off attending a proper cooking class, I wouldn't be the best teacher for this.

"No kidding, it's a miracle Kevin's recipes work out at all, and then afterward he can never remember what he did to create it." I wanted to hit Miyoko so badly, but she was safe inside my Midas card. I would have to find a way to get back at her somehow, but that was for when the kitchen wasn't a mess.

"Alright, we should probably clean this up before I attempt to cook dinner, this place is a disaster." I grabbed the nearest pot and turned on the hot water, and slowly we began to make progress on cleaning up. In all, there were about ten pots and pans that had burned and crusty food stuck to them. I was on the seventh one and my arms were getting sorer by the minute.

"Geez Hisaki, what did you put in these things, this is harder to get off than Miyoko's Mezzoflation!" We both laugh, and I saw Miyoko smirk from the Midas card, placed on the counter for easier interaction.

"To be honest I just kind of threw things in, now knowing what I was putting in!" I raised an eyebrow, knowing that's what I looked like I was doing when I was in the kitchen.

"Right, well just remember this, cooking is never done without a plan." Hisaki gave an embarrassed grin.

"Yeah I think I've figured that out, something to remember for next time!" I shook the image of the kitchen on fire from my mind.

"Just make sure you try a cookbook next time alright?"

"I will, I don't really want this apartment to burn down." I looked back at the dirty pan I was holding, only about halfway cleaned.

"You and I both pal; I don't think you'd want to pay for the damages as well as a new place."

"I don't think I'd even be _allowed_ to have a new place if I burned this one down." Hisaki said a little more seriously.

"Then please, leave the cooking to Kevin okay?" Miyoko sighed.

"You got it Miyoko, by the way, who's you're dealing opponent tomorrow?"

"Some rich kid with a snake girl for an asset, have I mentioned how much I hate poison?" Hisaki looked at me sympathetically.

"Poison based assets are usually trouble, and many people don't even walk away from deals with those types of assets." I tried to hide my surprise, and I think I was failing.

"Have you ever had to face a poison asset?" I asked Hisaki

"Once, and I didn't manage to win the deal. It took everything I had just to stay in the district. Do you know what kind of abilities this dude's asset will have?" I nodded. I began explaining the difference between our bank accounts first, how this guy was far richer than I was, easily having enough to chain multiple Macroflaitons together if he wanted to.

"That's crazy, didn't Masakaki set up this deal?" I nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't think chaining Macros together is really a concern here, this guy's asset has to hit me with a Micro or Mezzo before he can even use his Macro." Hisaki looked confused.

"I've never heard of an asset like that before!" Miyoko took the liberty of explaining, of course stealing away the fun part.

"Correct, both the Microflation and Mezzoflation infect the opponent with poison. When the Macroflation is activated, any poison in the opponent's system will 'explode' in a sense, a perfect predator."

"Alright you two seriously have me scared now, how are you going to beat something like that?"

"I've somehow managed to gather enough funds for a Macro, if I can manage to land Miyoko's freeze field it should win us the deal, since our opponent won't be able to escape." Hisaki nodded in understanding.

"You're planning to use a similar tactic like you did against me, lock down both Entre and Asset when their separated, then pound the Entre to pieces." I grinned evilly.

"Yes but this time, I'll have a Macro, and if I pull this off correctly, it should win us the deal."

"But the other problem is timing." Miyoko pointed out. "It's unlikely that we would manage to avoid the poison attacks the whole deal, so we would have to pull out our combo in the last fifteen seconds of the deal."

"And there is our problem right there, coming up with a plan for defense for that long is beyond challenging." Hisaki put away the last pan, then placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I know you can pull it off, I mean you were almost the second Entre to win his first deal!" I nodded, and he went to go sit on the couch while I made dinner. I made sure to stick to something I knew would work, it could be my last grand meal.

_**The next day…**_

Miyoko and I stood on an empty rooftop somewhere in one of the eastern districts, I didn't know which one since I hadn't made time to memorize every street in Tokyo. The building was fairly decently sized, but I doubted the whole deal would be conducted on this rooftop. About twelve feet away stood my opponent; he had a relaxed posture with his arms folded and glasses reflecting the light so I couldn't see his eyes. As out assets appeared, my opponent gave a wide grin, and I realized he came in with the intent to bankrupt me. _Why do people with poison always seem to have 'bankrupt' written somewhere in their deals?_

The eyes in the sky clashed together and the deal opened, almost immediately the Entre opened up with a Micro, sending hundreds of small darts at me.

"Miyoko!" Immediately my asset moved in front to rebound the attack, but about three feet away from the barrier Miyoko had put up the darts changed direction, flying in all directions before impacting both Miyoko and myself, making my asset flinch while the pain sent me to the ground immediately.

"Holy crap that hurts, what the hell was that attack…" I slowly managed to get to my feet, noticing dark, cloudy, purple circles appear where the darts had hit us. _This deal is not off to a good start._

"Micro, eighty-thousand!" Hundreds of ice shards shot from Miyoko's hands, headed above the Entre, seemingly missing him. He raised an eyebrow, like he was almost interested but yet bored at the same time.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen another Entre give up this fast. You know you can always resign if you want to quit right no-" he didn't get a chance to finish the word as the ice shards finished turning around and slammed him in the back. _Geez, most people don't even fall for that trick anymore. This guy must be so arrogantly confident in his abilities that he doesn't feel the need to research his opponents!_ I smiled.

"You may want to think about why your opponent does something _before_ you start running your mouth!"

"This isn't the time to celebrate, that blow may have landed but don't forget we're still being effected by the poison." I caught Miyoko's gaze, looking at me from the corner of her eye. I nodded in conformation. She was right, this was absolutely no time to celebrate.

"Watch your mouth kid or I might actually start trying, Micro two million!" More darts flew out of the snake asset, and it seemed like where were more of them this time. Thinking quickly, I noticed a staircase behind me to my left.

"Miyoko!" We both dashed for the staircase, trying desperately to escape the swarm of darts headed out way, but they were too fast. Thankfully Miyoko managed to block most of them, but two managed to hit the side of her right arm.

We flew down those stairs at what had to be record speed, an attempt to get out into a little more open space. A risk against those swarms of darts but it was better than being stranded up on a rooftop. It was important to move quickly, if they launched a Micro from within the building it was almost guaranteed to hit us.

As we exited the building, we noticed that our opponent had remained on the top of the building, standing there with what I thought was a grin. I'll admit it was hard to tell though, even though the building wasn't that high the guy wasn't even bothering to look down at me.

"We can still launch a Mezzo from here, Flash Freeze affects all surfaces." Miyoko reminded me.

"I'm aware, but it doesn't help us much, if they anticipate our attack they'll just avoid it."

"Remember that they haven't done their homework on us, and so far no one has been able to see the hole in our Mezzoflation attack."

"That's because we don't use it unless we're sure it'll hit!" I clenched my teeth. "Sometimes I hate how all in your attack style is Miyoko." She rolled her eyes in response.

"Clearly we haven't done enough strategy work, even after all this time! Yes my abilities are easier to land if we land Flash Freeze, but even if they dodge it it's an opening am I right?" I realized she was, even if they managed to figure out that being airborne let you avoid the attack, there was a chance you could slip on the ice or be in the air long enough that there would be no way to dodge the next Micro.

"Alright, we should try it then!" Miyoko nodded, but then jumped back immediately as almost fifteen medium sized snakes hit the ground where Miyoko had been just a second before. _Dammit, his Mezzo! I should have been paying better attention._

Without wasting a second, the snakes leapt at us, intent on taking a bite out of their potentially next victims. Miyoko grabbed me and jumped a good twelve feet to our right, a close call to be sure. The snakes turned and started to slither towards us at a speed I didn't think was possible. Reacting quickly, I decided that now was as good a time as any to execute something new.

"Mezzoflation ten million!" The blue shockwave erupted as Miyoko's fists slammed the ground, freezing all but one of the snakes, the last one leaping up into the air, headed straight for me. Miyoko was too far away and there wasn't time to get far enough away. Investing in a small Direct, I sliced the serpent right down the center of its body, sending each half whizzing past my face, about an inch from each ear as it passed. I looked up at the top of the building, and unfortunately for us, the attack had been blocked by our opponents asset. _Dammit, those snakes drove us too far away for the Flash Freeze to be effective! But it seems that the shockwave takes a few seconds to be fully dissipated by an asset's shield._

Using another Micro, investing a risky sixty million in this one, Miyoko fired the ice shards around the back of the defensive barrier towards the Entre, who jumped backwards as the pointed ice flew past him momentarily before turning back and hitting him on his left side. Checking the scoreboard, I had a small lead, but it was slowly dwindling as the poison continued to drain my cash. _Geez, does this poison stay in effect for the whole damn deal?_

The opposing Entre tightened his fists in anger, then shot an angry finger at me after recovering from my last attack. I noticed him swipe his hand over his card as more darts than ever before seemed to appear out of every corner of, well, everywhere! I could estimate that almost all of the darts had hit ether myself or Miyoko, since it was impossible to block them all and were moving too fast to dodge.

"All right kid, you've had your fun, but it's about time I ended this deal once and for all! I'm tired of dealing with punks like you, _Macro one billion!_" The half snake entre suddenly started glowing in a purple light, losing the half girl side to her and becoming entirely snake, before I felt what was like an explosion in all parts of my body. I could hear both of us screaming as we hit the pavement, the poison exploding holes in my body. I could feel my body burning away, melting as the poison overtook my body. Vaguely, I could hear 'watch' being repeated from my Midas card, a sign that I was about to go bankrupt.

Time seemed to slow down for me, and for a second I thought it was over and I was going to go bankrupt right here, but I quickly shook the thought from my head. There was no way I was going to let myself lose right here. Even if I was immune to losing my future here, losing would mean banishment from the Financial District and losing any shot at finding that winged kid. There was only one thing left to do.

"Time to sell out." I whispered, swiping my hand over my Midas Card to open two of Miyoko's stocks. Almost immediately, one of them was bought for almost three billion, and I wondered who could be crazy enough to do something like that. Even though I was on the ground, I tilted up my head and noticed Hisaki giving me a thumbs-up from a nearby building. _Talk about your friends, holy crap!_ I slowly stood up, and I noticed that the other stock had been purchased as well. To who didn't really matter though, it gave me a total of five billion to work with.

"Miyoko, there's no way we can wait to draw this out, his attacks are too relentless to last for six more minutes!" I shouted as I got to my feet, no longer feeling the effects of the poison. Miyoko nodded to me, in obvious agreement and in relief that we were around for a second chance at surviving another day. I turned back to our opponents, who were still standing on top of the building.

"I'll have to get close." Miyoko warned, clearly thinking of what I had in mind. I nodded.

"That's fine, the faster you move the less likely you are to get hit. Don't worry about me, we just need to deal as much damage as we can to offset the poison." Miyoko leaped upward, jumping up the building with a massive burst of speed. At the same time, the opposing entre starting launching more darts, and snakes soon after. I was taking major damage as each attack hit, and holding off the snakes was also proving to be slightly costly, but there was still enough time to pull off the combination I had in mind.

With one last leap, Miyoko cleared the top of the building, and I activated a ten million Mezzo, the attack sent outward as she landed, slamming her fists to the ground simultaneously. With the snake asset having recently fired darts at me, she was only able to block half of the part of the shockwave that ended up hitting her Entre, freezing the left half of his body, making him unable to launch any more flations. _This is it._

"Macroflation two billion, go Blizzard Zero!" within an instant of my investment, Miyoko's hands turned a light blue, lighter than they have ever been, and two swords were formed in her hands, shining with a reflective light, and within another instant after that, she seemed to almost disappear, slashing at the Entre with a speed I couldn't follow, and one that the asset clearly couldn't ether. Having jumped away after half the shockwave had hit her master, she was attempting to block Miyoko's lightning fast blows, but with no success. Every time she tried to block from one angle, a light blue flash would appear from another direction with no obvious pattern, and didn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

After what felt like an eternity of watching the best swordsmanship I'd ever seen including every anime that I had watched, the light faded from Miyoko and she appeared beside me, but the swords remained in her hands. Based on what she told me, the swords would last for another two minutes after the Macro had finished, giving her a weapon to use without a flation. I prepared to launch another even more powerful Macro while the other Entre was still frozen to keep us in the lead, but Miyoko stopped my hand. I turned to her and she shook her head, pointing to the scoreboard. My eyes widened in shock when I realized that my opponent had no cash left. He was bankrupt. _Holy crap, what the hell have I done._

"It's not your fault Kevin, to be honest I didn't expect Blizzard Zero to deal that much to him, but I doubt this deal could have ended without one of you going bankrupt anyway." I tried to find comfort in my partner's words but I still couldn't believe it. I had worked really hard to try and make the difference in cash as close as possible, but I had never bankrupted anyone before, let alone someone who was as powerful as this guy. _I guess even though he's powerful, he isn't as rich as I first thought, he must have been gambling before our deal began, I was just too caught up in thinking about the fight to notice that his cash size was close to mine._

As the Entre and his asset disappeared, I head Masakaki appear behind me.

"Very well done Kevin, I must say I wasn't expecting this outcome!" I sighed and suppressed a surge of anger.

"Listen Masakaki, I need answers."

"Oh? What kind of answers are you seeking?"

"I need to know how a certain Entre managed to escape from the Financial District."

**Alright, well luckily since I'm doing a double post this week, you guys don't have to wait for the answers to Kevin's questions! So hop on over to the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Answer Isn't Near

**Whew, internet's gone to hell again… oh wait when did it **_**ever**_** get out? I'm gonna be frikken cursed for the rest of my life with internet speeds.**

Chapter Six:

"I need to know how a certain Entre managed to escape from the Financial District." For a few seconds, Masakaki didn't answer me.

"Hmm, well normally that's a secret we don't share with Entre's, but you're not exactly a normal Entre." I raised an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" I asked, ready to finally receive some answers.

"I'm afraid that my boss doesn't want me telling you that information just yet, don't worry, someone will explain it to you in time." I was taken aback.

"What do you mean, 'someone will explain it in time?' What happened to that other Entre!" Masakaki raised his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you about that either, although I'm sure you'll figure that one out for yourself in time as well. I have your deal scheduled for next Tuesday, I'll see you then!" With that, Masakaki disappeared, leaving me with a hundred times more questions than I had before. _Damn him!_ I shook my head in frustration and Miyoko looked at me sympathetically.

"We knew getting answers out of him would be a long shot." I sighed.

"Yeah I know, but it's still frustrating."

"At least we know that the answers will come in time, after all the financial district have enough people's future as collateral that they would know." I wasn't sure about that, but I've never known Masakaki to be wrong yet, so for the moment I had to believe I had to believe that he was right and the answers would come in time, but it wasn't going to stop me from digging for the answers myself. There was another brief pause before I heard Hisaki.

"Yo Kevin, sweet deal man!" I looked to my left to see the eighteen year-old running at me with a hand waving.

"Thanks Hisaki, I'm kinda depressed I ended up bankrupting the guy though." Hisaki laughed unsympathetically.

"Dude are you kidding? From what I saw the guy was an ass and needed to be kicked out of there anyway! I bet you made some major cash off him!" I nodded in confirmation, the scoreboard confirming that I had absorbed all of his funds before it had disappeared.

"By the way, I want to thank you for making that investment in me, really saved my butt!" Hisaki grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Anything for a friend, although I suppose you don't mind buying back that stock for that two billion? I don't wanna be bankrupt in my next deal because I bailed you out!" I gave a half-smile and nodded, buying back Miyoko's stock for two and a half billion, more than he had given me.

"Consider that extra five hundred million my thanks for saving our lives out there."

"You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it." I nodded. Hisaki's face turned to his serious mode.

"So, did you get the information out of Masakaki?" He asked. Both Miyoko and I shook our heads in disappointment. Hisaki's shoulders drooped and he leaned back on his heels. "That bites, that was your best lead too. So what are you going to do now?"

"Masakaki promised Kevin that answers would come in time, so for now I believe our best option is to wait for your friend to become available for questioning." Hisaki scratched the back of his head.

"Wow Miyoko, I thought you of all assets would be the least trusting of Masakaki." I raised an eyebrow. I had no idea that Hisaki thought so lowly of Masakaki's word. I guess it was to be expected to a certain degree. Despite the man being honest, he was also a dirty snake and not to be trusted as an ally.

"I don't trust him," Miyoko replied. "But he has yet to be proven wrong about anything, so if he says something, I don't have a reason to doubt its sincerity." I raised a hand, signaling that I wanted to intervene.

"I'm glad were getting a chance to discuss what we've learned in the last ten minutes, but can we do it over something to eat? That deal left me hungry enough to eat the whole Bank of Midas plaza!" Both Hisaki and Miyoko nodded, and we walked over to a nearby restaurant, each of us ordering food (much to my surprise that Miyoko got involved, easily passing off as an Entre no less!) and sitting down to continue our discussion.

"So do you even know when your friend will be back in town?" I asked Hisaki once I had eaten a few mouthfuls.

"She'll be here sometime next week so we don't have that much longer to wait. Maybe she can give you some answers about finding that kid." We ate in silence for a while, and I started thinking back over the deal. It was by far one of the hardest deals I've ever won, but the first I had that ended in someone going bankrupt. To be honest I didn't know what to think, even though Miyoko had told me not to worry about it I couldn't help but think about what might happen to the guy, and whatever companies he was associated with. Miyoko ended up catching my expression of deep thought, which I believed to had mastered disguising.

"You look concerned Kevin, thinking about that bankrupted Entre already?" I nodded.

"How could I not, that guy was pretty important in the real world from what I hear, and me bankrupting him could have some major consequences pretty quickly!"

"I wouldn't worry about that." Turning around in my chair, I was shocked, and horrified, to see Sōichirō Mikuni standing behind me. "That was the display back there, I'm Sōichirō Mikuni." I half scrambled and stumbled onto my feet from the chair, failing at any attempt to keep my composure.

"Kevin Tanner." Mikuni raised an eyebrow.

"Foreigner then eh? A pleasure to meet you."

"So I can only guess you're the one responsible for my other stock." Mikuni nodded. I was still unsure of that to say, one misstep right here could change the fate of this world, although it seemed unlikely since the man was essentially a brick wall.

"I must say, that's quite an asset you have there, seems that a lot of new Entre's are getting them these days." I followed his gaze to Miyoko, she was eyeing Mikuni's asset carefully.

"She may be strong, but she's one of a kind for sure." Miyoko glared at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I held up my hands in denial of the accusation.

"I meant that in the best possible way!" _Geez she can change trains of thought quickly!_ Out of the corner of my eye I caught Mikuni smile.

"You're right; she is one of a kind." There was a brief pause, probably due to how awkward I felt in the situation, knowing I was dealing with someone that I couldn't be enemies with.

"I imagine your guild is going to be cleaning up my mess." I said with an apologetic tone.

"That was your first use of Macroflation wasn't it."

"Yeah, I didn't realize how powerful it actually was, kind of lost in the moment trying to stay alive."

"I can understand that, but all the same you should try to be more careful. You sound like you're pretty concerned with the impact the Financial District has on the real world." I knew where this was headed, and as much as I would love to try and change the course of this world's fate, failure to succeed would mean disaster for me and Miyoko, I couldn't risk it.

"I am, I try to minimize the damage, but please don't ask me to join the Starling Guild, I'm afraid I would have do decline."

"I'm surprised you figured that out so quickly, but considering that you're already trying to minimize your impact it would make your life a lot easier." This whole time my gaze hadn't shifted from Miyoko, and I looked at Mikuni from the corner of my eye. I needed a way out of this that didn't seem suspicious.

"Thank you, but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. I need to figure a few things out, then I'll consider joining." I turned my head and smiled. "But don't worry, I don't plan on causing major problems in the meantime, I'll make sure to be more careful now that I'm aware of my strength." Although unhappy with my decision, Mikuni nodded.

"Alright, you make sure you figure out what you need to, contact me when you're ready." With that, he turned and walked away, Q close behind. Although she hadn't said a word, Miyoko looked suspicious, and slightly agitated.

"Something about that asset doesn't feel right." Miyoko said once they were out of earshot. "Are you sure we can't challenge them and pound that asset into the concrete?" It was unlike Miyoko to act rashly about anything, let alone a deal.

"Uhh, you realize how bad of an idea that is right?" Hisaki cautioned Miyoko.

"I was about to say, this is unlike you, wanting to dash into a fight without a reason. What is it about her that has you so riled up?" Miyoko folded her arms and leaned back in the chair, her eyebrows twitching.

"I can't explain it, but that asset feels… unnatural. I think they're going to create some major problems in the future." I sat back down and leaned back.

"I know you're right Miyoko, they're going to stir up a mess of trouble that's going to make this place a living hurricane, but it's none of our concern." Miyoko pounded a fist on the table in protest.

"Why not! If he's going to start something we should stop him before he can try!"

"It's a little more complicated than that, and besides, if we were to try and stop him, we would probably fail and get ourselves killed, with the added fact that we would never find the winged kid!" Hisaki leaned on the table.

"Geez, what are you a fortune teller? You seem to know an awful lot about what we should and shouldn't do." I shrugged.

"I'm no fortune teller, don't ask me about how I know this though, It's knowledge that comes from my world, and to be honest I don't know that much." I wanted to avoid scaring Hisaki, but I would have to tell him to get out at some point. Hisaki shook his head.

"I gotta say though man, I didn't expect Mikuni to show up."

"I didn't ether, that was really stressful."

"Can't believe you declined his offer though, for you it would seem to be a really good thing!" I looked at Hisaki questioningly.

"Were you ever asked to join the guild?"

"Not by Mikuni personally no, but I was asked. Turned them down, I came to this district to bring in cash and that hasn't changed."

After we finished eating, we left the financial district and headed back to the apartment, each of us getting changed and ready to get some sleep. Personally I needed to sleep for a few years, I was dirt tired after the deal and having to deal with Mikuni.

"Ever noticed how our deals end up being in the evening hours?" Hisaki laughed.

"You know, I was just thinking about that, and it seems like it. Kinda odd but I don't really mind."

"By the way Hisaki, don't you have a deal tomorrow?" Hisaki's face saddened at Miyoko's question.

"Yeah, I've been trying to forget about it." _Uh oh, red alert!_

"That didn't sound very confident." I sat down on the couch.

"Yeah, supposedly my opponent has even more cash and dealing experience than you, and what's more he's known to be ruthless in deals, leaving opponents with next to nothing."

"What do you mean by, 'next to nothing'?" I asked him.

"It's just as it sounds like, he doesn't completely drain an Entre of his or her funds, but often they are left so deprived of cash they go bankrupt in their next deal if they don't sell a stock." I heard a sigh from my Midas card.

"Geez, you two win a few deals in a row and Masakaki puts you in with the big leagues! Well, what are you going to do about it Hisaki, any ideas on how you're going to beat him?" Hisaki took out his Midas card and started flipping it over.

"I learned that his Asset is called Pheon, basically a phoenix. From what I've learned it's going to be a tough fight for Mecha."

"Right, because phoenix can fly, and Mecha can only jump." Hisaki nodded.

"Mecha only has one ranged attack, the Cyber Fists, and I doubt Stampede would be very effective against an opponent who can fly." Miyoko's observations, despite them being true, obviously didn't help Hisaki feel any more confident in the results for tomorrow. "If I may ask, do you know what your Macroflation does?"

"It's called Dominant Mecha, and basically it turns him into King Kong." I had proped my Midas card up against a book on the table a few minutes earlier so Miyoko could talk face to face with us rather than just speak through the card, and we exchanged a glance after hearing about Mecha's best attack.

"How big is Pheon supposed to be?" I asked Hisaki.

"Supposedly, it's supposed to be pretty colossal, the broker I talked to said it could take out a skyscraper without a problem. I think it might be an exaggeration but I think my Macro will let Mecha stand a chance at winning. The only problem is I only have enough money to make it last for one minute." I leaned back against the couch, thinking up a battle plan.

"If Pheon is somewhere close to the size you were told, it would be safe to assume that it won't easily fit within the city itself. You might be able to go directly for the Entre without interference from the asset." Hisaki took a minute to think the idea over.

"It's worth a shot, but from what it sound like, his favorite plan is to ride on the back of the phoenix, so I'll have to keep the two apart for as long as I can if I want a chance to win." I nodded.

"If the Entre does manage to get on the back of Pheon, you can always try and get the deal to a part of the city with some taller buildings, and knock off the Entre. With an asset of that size, I doubt it would be able to effectively block close ranged attacks like what Mecha specializes in." I watched Hisaki clench his fists together and let a small smile slide onto his face, it was clear he was happy with the battle plan we had managed to come up with so far.

With the conversation of battle completed, I banished myself back into the kitchen to create tonight's experimental dinner. It didn't take me very long, I decided to create something simple tonight, I won't say what I did, I have to keep my secrets secret. Although Miyoko was pestering me the whole time, trying to get me to try some things that I had already done in the past, and had proven to be complete failures. No matter how much I tried to explain to Miyoko that it wouldn't work, she didn't take 'no' for an answer, refusing to let the subject go until Hisaki and I were both finished eating.

After the meal, both Hisaki and I decided to get some sleep, it was already fairly late into the evening. Pulling the blanket over myself I once again began the battle to find a comfortable position on Hisaki's couch.

"I still can't believe you didn't follow any of my ideas tonight!" Miyoko huffed.

"I told you before, I've done everything you suggested and it ether ended with fire or me hurling my guts out five seconds later." Miyoko looked disappointed, all her idea's shut down on the word of her Entre. I sighed,

"Tell you what, when we get back to my house in my world, I'll let you do all the experimentation you want." Miyoko's face brightened. "Just promise not to burn down the house okay?" She nodded in reply, and I rolled over, trying to bury my face in the backside of the couch to see if I could get to sleep that way.

I found that after being together for a few months, Miyoko was being less cold hearted to me about everything. She was opening up and allowing herself to show some emotion around me, and Hisaki for that matter. _I guess I'm not the only one growing as a person thanks to this little adventure._

"Do you think that Hisaki's going to be okay tomorrow?" Miyoko asked me suddenly. I rolled back over.

"Huh? Yeah I think he'll be fine, he seemed to have his confidence back after our little strategy meeting." Miyoko didn't look convinced.

"I got the impression that he was faking that confidence, he may have a plan now but he may not be able to pull it off, especially if he doesn't believe he'll be able to." I gave some thought to it, and I realized that Miyoko might be right. Very few people can pull a mood swing like that honestly, and it didn't seem like Hisaki was one of those people. The more I thought about it, the more I realized his whole personality might be hiding something darker, but I wasn't going to worry about it. It wasn't any of my concern.

"Hisaki's made it this far as an Entre, he'll make it through tomorrow. I think he's just stressed out about other things. Risking bankruptcy tomorrow will shake him out of it." _Let's hope it doesn't get that far, because the problem with phoenixes is, they get back up after dying._

**Oh… the suspense, Hisaki is now stressed out, and has to go against a phoenix next week! Welp I'll be trying to go for another double post soon, but that means I really have to step it into high gear. *shudders***


	7. Chapter 7: Trials of the Phoenix

**Right, sorry I'm late with this one guys, PAX PRIME totally wiped me out. Watched every League of Legends game and it was AWESOME! #TSMHYPE #C9HYPE #LMQHYPE**

**Anyway enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter Seven:

The next day, Hisaki didn't say much, he didn't have school that day so he ended up just sitting around the house, appearing to be lost in deep thought for most of the day. I hoped it was deep thought about strategy and tricks he could pull out, because the last thing he needed was to be stuck in a cloud of despair about worst case scenarios and then psych himself out for his deal. Thankfully I didn't need to coax him to eat anything, and he seemed more relaxed while eating, and he took a nap after lunch when it was obvious he had started going to dark places.

"That guy has some serious mental strength, or maybe he just has a haw of blocking the deal out of his mind, ether way he seems to have gotten past the point of panic." Miyoko's reaction after seeing Hisaki sleep seemed fairly accurate, and I was almost inclined to fully believe in that.

Of course since I wasn't fully trusting of Hisaki's emotional state, I had woken up very early that morning to go to the financial district for some information digging on Hisaki's opponent. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything that would reassure him that he would be alright in the deal this evening, mostly because the guy I talked to was a complete motor mouth. I asked Miyoko for confirmation if the trip was pointless, (careful to disguise that I had stopped listening five minutes in,) and she confirmed for me. Before long though, it was time for the biggest deal of Hisaki's life, well, at least for the moment.

Like normal, we took separate taxis to the district, but met up immediately for a few minutes at a part of the bridge that let me see the entire area where Hisaki was going to be dealing. I made sure to give Hisaki some reassuring advise and reminders of what Mecha was capable of. Hisaki looked at me with a bored expression half the time, clearly trying to tell me that he knew all of what I was telling him already.

"Looks like it's almost time." I observed, checking my cell phone. Hisaki let out a long sigh, probably of relief. Miyoko smiled from behind me.

"Just remember Hisaki, if things start going badly, just go bananas and you should crush the guy!" Hisaki let out a nervous laugh at my terrible attempt at a joke, although it wasn't fully meant as one.

"I'll make sure to throw a banana peel for you at some point." We shook hands and soon afterward Masakaki teleported him down to the city below, leaving Miyoko and I alone on the bridge, awaiting the start of the deal.

"So what do you think, has Hisaki gotten it back together?" I asked Miyoko, my tone a lot more serious than it had been thirty seconds ago.

"I believe so, it was a good sign that your rather obvious reminders bored Hisaki to death." I sighed and rolled my eyes, Miyoko didn't react, staring straight forward at the city below, like she was already observing. "It might be that Hisaki was tired and panicked at the strength of his opponent, I remember you doing the same thing once after you had been up for thirty hours straight searching the web." I recalled the incident, I had gotten a little annoyed at the lack of information on how I changed worlds and began to let that draw me into an attempt at a marathon search, with a deal only two days away. It was a miracle I didn't go bankrupt that time. I looked down at the city, figuring that Masakaki had probably gathered both Entres by now.

I thought about observing Hisaki's deal, activating the spectator system for Deals. It was almost like watching a movie, the angle from which I was watching changed uncontrollably, and I could hear most of the opening conversation between Hisaki and the other Entre. Masakaki apparently had left by this point, and the conversation wasn't anything remarkable, just some trash talk as the deal opened and the assets were summoned to battle. Mecha appeared next to Hisaki, standing about twice as tall as his master. Pheon took me by surprise. Expecting a bird about twice the size of a large eagle, I was shocked to find that this phoenix was _massive, _stretching about fifty feet in total wingspan, Pheon looked like it could easy lift a large mobile home into the air and toss it without difficulty.

"That's… not quite what I was expecting." I muttered in surprise.

"No kidding, I know that info broker said Pheon was large, but I honestly thought he was exaggerating, you know, since he was a motor-mouth and all." Miyoko replied, obviously in just as much shock.

Wasting no time, Hisaki opened up with a minimum cost Micro, sending out the two metal fists of Mecha flying at the other Entre at a very quick speed. Rolling to one side, the opposing Entre managed to dodge the flying fists, sending them crashing into the ground behind the man, creating an explosion that almost knocked the guy to the ground, but didn't deal any damage. On top of that it looked like Hisaki's opponent was ready to launch his counterattack.

"Mezzoflation five million!" After the man finished calling his attack, Pheon screeched loudly from above. The creature shot its wings forward, sending a massive number of large, sharp ended feathers toward both Hisaki and Mecha. Moving behind his asset, Hisaki prepared himself to let Mecha block one of the feathers that looked like it was going to impale the pair. Arms raised in defense, the cybernetic asset was fully prepared to block the attack.

I was surprised when the feather stuck itself in the ground only a foot away from Mecha, missing completely instead of being blocked. _What, it didn't even look like the guy was even trying to hit either of them! Why fire a Mezzo if you're not planning to hit, unless there's more to this._

As if on cue, a confused Hisaki and Mecha were caught in a blaze of fire, created in an eighteen inch ring that surrounded every fallen feather in the area. _No wonder,_ I thought, _a surprise attack using an unexpected secondary effect that neither of us mad managed to get information about! Damn I hate that info broker, I should get Miyoko to remind me to give that guy a piece of my mind._

The vision changed to a quick glance at the scoreboard, showing that Hisaki's losses were fairly decent, a lot larger than I had expected in the first thirty seconds of the deal. Of course it was still too early to predict the outcome.

"Mecha, go!" Mecha leaped into the air, his fists returning to him as he sailed through the air towards Pheon, right fist ready to slam the head of the giant bird. In response, Pheon flapped hard, sailing higher into the air, too far away for Mecha to land a blow on, but Hisaki didn't seem too phased by the move, like he was expecting Pheon to move out of the way.

"A nice move." Miyoko commented. The opposing Entre was on his feet heading for the nearest building, probably to get to the top of it in order to get onto Pheon.

"Micro, eight-hundred thousand!" Once again Mecha's fists sailed for the Entre, but this time one of them was aimed at the entrance to the building the other guy wanted to enter instead of having both fists fly directly at the Entre. The door collapsed as the first fist connected, and unaware that Pheon hadn't been a big enough distraction, the other guy was hit from behind by the second one.

I realized that, although normally I didn't care, not knowing the name of the other Entre while watching as a spectator was bugging the hell outta me. "Hey Miyoko, do you remember the name of the other Entre, I totally spaced out on that part." Miyoko rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"So you actually weren't paying attention to that information broker, pay attention if you don't want me to think you have ice for brains! The man's name is Eikichi Takagi, he owns most of the major Airports in Japan." _Explains the phoenix, I'll bet he has a burning passion for money too! _I snickered inwardly at my pun.

Takagi got back to his feet and scowled at Hisaki before continuing to run down the street towards the next building. Mecha ended up landing on top of a building across the street from where Takagi was headed. Hisaki started running after him, ordering Mecha to intercept the Entre on the roof of the building.

"Micro two million!" Takagi shouted as he started running up the stairs of the building he had entered.

"It would seem that Hisaki won't be able to keep them separated for much longer." Miyoko commented.

"What makes you say that?" I asked her.

"Watch, Takagi has Hisaki in his trap, it's clear he's been in this situation before. That man has absolutely no hint of panic in his posture or his voice." As Mecha leaped off the building he was on to get across the street, he was knocked away by Pheon, who has sped downward at a shocking speed, talons on fire from the investment in the Micro. Mecha was knocked backwards into a building on some distant block, and he looked like he was going to be out of commission for a minute or so.

"Uh oh." Miyoko nodded in silent reply, obviously expecting this result. Hisaki, unaware of what had just happened to his asset, continued to chase Takagi up through the building, chasing him blindly where Pheon was waiting for him.

When the two reached the roof, Hisaki found Takagi grinning wildly at him, and Pheon screeched from behind. Hisaki whipped around, surprised to see the large phoenix behind him instead of his cybernetic asset. Reacting quickly, Hisaki started running back down the stairs, aware that staying on the roof for a last stand would be certain death. Unfortunately, Miyoko and I were both aware of the next flation attack.

"Macro eight billion!" _That's almost all in for this guy!_ An orange glow started to emanate from Pheon, and after a few seconds he burst into flame, flying through the building, throwing Hisaki to the wall as the mighty beast surged through him.

Money flew out of his body at a rapid rate, and with "watch" now being spammed annoyingly. Sliding his hand over his card, he opened up one of his stocks to the public, acting quickly, I made sure to purchase it for three billion, and hopefully the amount would be enough for Hisaki to pull out a miracle.

As the orange glow around Pheon faded away, Hisaki exited the building, Mecha only just now starting to make his way back to his Entre. Takagi had gotten on the back of his asset, using a few of the feathers to keep himself balanced.

"This is going to be a tough deal." I commented. "Hisaki has to find away to get those two separated, and get some of his money back before the clock hits zero." There was still a good sixty percent of time left in the deal, and Hisaki had already almost gone bankrupt. Now, with Takagi in his favorite position, Hisaki would have to adapt on the spot in order to pull out a win, or even just hold his ground.

Hisaki bolted around the street corner, dodging the next Mezzo wave from Pheon. About halfway down the street was Mecha, running towards Hisaki, looking slightly exhausted from being thrown so far, but ready to fight nonetheless. Circling high above them, Pheon let out a loud screech before sending yet another wave of feathers down at the ground. Mecha grabbed Hisaki and leaped upwards, landing on the building behind them before continuing backwards to dodge the last of the attack.

The second part of the plan discussed last night was now in action. Not too far away, maybe twenty blocks, was a large tower that would be tall enough for Mecha to leap off of to get to Pheon, dodging two or three highly invested Mezzoflations along the way.

"Takagi can't keep this up, he already risks losing the deal. If he continues to attack, and miss, at this rate he'll end up going bankrupt."

"That may be true Miyoko, but it's almost like he's _trying_ to lure Hisaki to that tower."

"You think Takagi is going to launch another Macro once Hisaki is ready to attack?" Miyoko asked with a hint of surprise to her voice. I nodded.

"This deal is starting to get short on time, I have a feeling that whatever goes down at the tower is going to decide the outcome of the deal." We both fell silent as Hisaki dodged yet another Mezzoflation, minimum investment. I was now more sure than ever that Takagi was trying to lure Hisaki to the tower. _But why, he should know that Mecha can leap above Pheon from the top of that tower, unless that's what he wants!_ I realized that Mecha leaping into the air was the one opportunity Takagi had to defeat the pair once and for all, Mecha can't move as well once he's in the air, so it was the perfect time to strike. _So Hisaki, what will you do?_

By this point Mecha was already jumping up the tower, Hisaki nowhere to be seen. _Probably taking cover somewhere safe, for the best since he can't follow Mecha up that far._ Once he reached the top, he stood there, awaiting his next command.

Suddenly, Mecha multiplied, a total of thirty different versions of himself flew into the air, headed in all different directions. For a moment, Takagi looked confused before firing another Mezzo, matching feathers for copies of Mecha, and it looked as if the giant ape was about to get blasted out of the sky.

Then, something unexpected happened. Hisaki waved his hand over his Midas card and called for a seventy million Micro, matching the investment he had made for his Mezzoflation. Every copy of Mecha suddenly had their fists flying to intercept the feathers, clouding the sky with a black cloud of smoke, causing Pheon to lose it.

"Incredible." Miyoko gazed in awe, and inwardly I agreed. It took me by surprise that the copies of Mecha could launch their own fists if a Micro was called while Stampede was still in effect.

"Macroflation two billion!" I knew it was over at this moment. With the dark cloud still in the sky there was no way for ether Entre or asset to tell where Hisaki or Mecha were. On top of that Mecha was now a one-hundred fifty foot mechanical ape of death and destruction. With a single swing of his massive fist the phoenix was sent crashing to the ground, crushing the bottom half of the opposing Entre in the process. Ten seconds later the deal ended, Hisaki winning by a very dominant amount.

"That was an amazing outplay." I shouted, pumping my fist into the air.

"No kidding, I think our deal yesterday has just been outclassed, and with a better result on top of it." Miyoko replied with a smile.

We high-fived, meeting up with Hisaki back at the plaza, where more high-fives and yells were exchanged, all traces of doubt gone from my friend, making me sure he was back to normal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After we got back to the real world I insisted we pick up a cake to celebrate our dominant victories in the financial district. Hisaki gave me back the three billion I have to him, insisting I needed it to buy the desert feast. It had been a few months since I had celebrated anything and I figured this was about as good as it was ever going to get. Despite being unable to eat it, Miyoko insisted that it was fine and we all enjoy this moment.

"Before yesterday, I honestly had no idea that an assets flations could be used in such a synergetic way!" I laughed. "It's exciting!" Hisaki nodded, grinning wildly.

"No kidding, I learned about my combination a few weeks before I met you, but I had to make sure I saved it until I really needed it!" _So, I guess this is the skill of a top Entre then, every deal we have from now on is going to be bloody and rough, far from clean that's for sure._

"Something doesn't feel right though." Both of us stopped laughing and turned to Miyoko. _Killjoy!_

"What do you mean?" Hisaki asked. Miyoko shook her head.

"I don't quite know yet, but I get this feeling that something bad is coming." We all sat in silence for a few moments before my asset shook her head sharply. "Forget it, it's probably nothing." My eyes narrowed, and I knew something was definitely wrong. It would be stupid to ignore the feelings of my asset, and I knew I needed to look into it, but it could wait until tomorrow.

"Don't scare me like that Miyoko, for a second you had me thinking that Masakaki was about to show up and spoil the whole thing!" I laughed, but only for a moment.

"Yes well I'm sorry to disturb but I might just be doing just that!" I jumped, whipping my head around to see the man of the hour standing behind me, still packing that ever aggravating grin.

"Holy mother, what are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

"I'm here to inform you that you have been challenged to a deal, he wants his identity to remain secret." I started reaching for my Midas card.

"Alright, let's do this." I muttered, half annoyed and very pissed, whoever had just challenged me was about to get piece of my mind.

"Oh you don't have to worry about rushing to the Financial District, the deal isn't until next week."

"When why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Just thought I would let you know, anyway I'll see you next week!" Masakaki disappeared, leaving me pissed and wanting to hit something.

"Man, that guy just loves to show and ruin everything." Hisaki shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever like that guy." I silently agreed.

The next day I spent most of my day in the Financial District, trying to track down who challenged me and what his or her asset was like. Unfortunately no matter who I talked to I got the same answer, that they didn't have a single clue as to who may have challenged me. Since I had only lost one deal in the financial district, I had become a pretty big name so it wasn't surprising that I might have some enemies, but it was rare for this many people to not have a single clue as to who was trying to take down the Ice Royalty as we had come to be called.

"Forget it Miyoko, we've been searching for hours and haven't found anything. It looks like we're going to have to go into next week blind." I was leaning against one of the hollow floating frames in the plaza, frustrated that my search has come up empty.

"We should be okay, I mean we were challenged so the possibility exists that the person dealing with us has less money." I shook my head.

"That's a best case scenario, and I'm not willing to trust in that with our lives on the line." Miyoko leaped down from the frame.

"Well it's good to be cautious, but we have to make sure we go all out in the deal regardless." I nodded and pushed myself off the frame.

"So, I wanted to ask you about this last night but I didn't want to stress out Hisaki. What were you talking about when you said you had a bad feeling?" Miyoko's face saddened a little bit.

"That's the thing, I have no idea why I feel this way, but I've noticed the city change around us, and not in a good way." I crossed my arms and leaned back on my heels. _Does this mean I'm out of time?_ Hearing a commotion in the center of the plaza, I noticed a young kid in a blue jacket light a large pile of Midas money on fire.

"What is that kid doing, doesn't he know it's not smart to burn money?" Miyoko asked in annoyance.

"This is very, very bad." I said without regard to Miyoko's previous comment.

"What?" Miyoko looked baffled.

"I think I know what you're feeling." Miyoko raised an eyebrow.

"And that would be…?"

"A chain reaction of events, Singapore's financial district is about to collapse, and the resulting C event is going to rip Japan apart." Miyoko's eyes widened in shock.

"Kevin, are you sure about this?" I nodded.

"This is the one thing I was aware of when I came to this world, that this was coming. Should have known it would happen soon, but dang this is a little sudden."

"Any idea how long we have?" Miyoko asked, fighting to keep calm.

"If I had to guess, I'd say we have roughly a week before everything goes to hell, which means we need to meet up with Hisaki's friend and find some answers before then." I watched the last of the money burn away, trying to stifle my rising panic. We were almost of time.

**Yes, dramatic, now unfortunately I don't have anything funny because I'm so tired I wanna go to bed.**


	8. Chapter 8: Rose Meet Van

**Sorry for being late two weeks in a row guys, but I really wanted to do a double post this week. Hopefully this will be worth it!**

Chapter Eight:

After figuring out that we only had a week until the C event started and hit Japan, Miyoko and I walked around the Financial District for an hour before returning to the real world. In that hour I had decided to relax the rest of the day and talk to Masakaki again tomorrow. Last time he told me that everything would be revealed in time, but with only a week left before everything fell apart, I needed answers sooner rather than later, because I was totally freaking out.

Miyoko had fallen quiet ever since we had left the plaza, refusing to talk or even give me some kind of acknowledgement. It was almost like the world was dead to her and what she was thinking about was more important than saving it. However, considering that staying in this world through both rounds of C meant death for her, I could understand this.

I decided to not let myself sit and think, only to get depressed in an empty room while Hisaki was off in class. Wandering the city, not knowing or caring where I was going, I took in the feel of the city, or at least what little positive energy remained. Everywhere I went it was obvious that the C event was coming, and kept me from forgetting that I needed to step up my game.

After a few hours I found myself in the same park I had slept in my first night here, and I sat down on a nearby bench, looking up at the afternoon clouds pass and take a deep breath. I had to keep faith that whatever sent me here wasn't sending me here with a death wish, so there had to be some way off this world; after all, someone had already managed to do it. I just needed to figure out how.

Now that I had done a take five and calmed myself down, my next concern was Miyoko, who still hadn't spoken to me for the last two hours. To be honest I think we had the same reaction to our impending doom, understandable, but yet unacceptable.

"Miyoko, are you alright?" I asked, my head still leaned back to look at the sky.

"No, I'm not." She muttered after a few moment of silence.

"I don't recall ever seeing you stressed out like this before, is it about next week?"

"Why did you warn me about this before?" Miyoko asked in anger.

"Because I didn't know the exact date it would happen, and I wasn't even sure it was _going _to happen, all I knew, is that it was a possibility." Miyoko wasn't satisfied with the answer, which I understood, I felt like I was rambling pointlessly, but I still wasn't stable enough to do any better.

"So? Even if it was a possibility you should have told me, this is my _life _we're talking about!" I sighed at Miyoko's understandable angry reply.

"I'm aware, but if we're still here when this happens, I don't know what'll happen to me, so it carries just as much risk for me as you. I couldn't place that burden on anyone, and to tell you the truth, I was too caught up in my goal to think about this much."

"Did you not think I could handle something like this?" I responded to Miyoko's question with a few moments of silence, thinking of how to answer the question.

"Not any more reasonably than how you just reacted anyway." I finally replied. "Look, I'm going to talk to Masakaki again tomorrow, and then we'll get answers, and get out of here! Someone already did it, so there must be a way!"

"Are you even sure I can come with you? Maybe the other guy had to ditch his asset to do that, so would you betray me to leave?" _Dammit, why do people close to you always have to make these kinds of conversations so hard, of course I don't want to leave you but if it comes down to it I don't _want_ to die with you!_

"I wouldn't leave you, no goal is important enough to sabotage a friendship." Miyoko sighed.

"Alright fine, I believe you. But remember, you owe me that night of cooking once we get back to your place." I laughed.

"Oh dear, I guess I should prepare to get a new house." I was sure that if Miyoko could punch me right now, she would.

"So what are we going to tell Hisaki? He doesn't have any idea that this is happening!" I sighed.

"I doubt there's anything we can do. The one thing I know is that he won't die, being an Entre and all, and if I remember correctly he could come out of this perfectly fine. There's no point in telling him something that will send him into a panic."

"Wait, but wouldn't C wipe out Japan and kill Hisaki with it?" Miyoko asked in confusion.

"Not quite, this is going to be a little different than a normal C event, one Entre is going to give Japan its future back, don't ask me how, and that could cause problems for me since I don't seem to have a future than can be effected by the bank. Long story short is everyone will live, but we don't want to be here."

"I think you lost me, but I get that everyone else will survive for sure."

"Correct, and I'm not sure of this myself, but like I said, I'd rather not panic Hisaki, because remember he still has one contact that we need to talk to."

"Right, and if the conversation with Masakaki doesn't work out tomorrow she'll be out last hope because you think this event will kill us?"

"Something like that, and now we head back to Hisaki's place."

"Tired of wandering?" Miyoko asked in amusement.

"No, I'm hungry!"

On our way back, something felt a little off, like we were being watched from afar by someone. Looking around, I couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary, so I decided to keep walking. After another five minutes had passed, I still had the feeling and looked around again. This time, I saw a man dressed in a black jacket with hood up duck into a shop, and he had _definitely_ been looking at me.

"Hey Miyoko."

"What is it Kevin?" She seemed surprised at my serious tone.

"I want you to keep an eye behind me, let me know if a creep wearing a black jacket is following us." I placed my Midas card in my back pocket, the circle in the center sticking out just enough for Miyoko to have a small window to the outside. I started walking again.

"He's there all right, but I think he knows we're onto him, he's pretty far back." Miyoko informed me after five minutes. "What do we do?" I started walking faster, trying to move in between thicker crowds to try and lose him.

"We make ourselves disappear and hope he has a hard time following us." We continues towards Hisaki's apartment, but no matter what crazy route took or how many people we wove through we couldn't seem to lose him. _Persistent._

"We're almost back to Hisaki's apartment Kevin, any last minute ideas for how to lose him?" I looked around; trying to find something what could get me to lose the guy. The only way to lose him at this point was to break into a run, but he was taller and probably in better shape than I was, so it wasn't a good idea to try that. Using my Midas card to escape into the Financial District was always a good plan, but something in the back of my mind said to not try that just yet.

Remembering the layout of the area, I realized that there was one point where I had a chance of losing him. Up ahead there was a set of intersections, up to three in a row if you went in the right directions. My stalker was far enough behind me that I could make it to the third intersection before he had rounded the first corner. _Thank you strange city planning!_

Moving quickly, turned left at the first intersection, then right at the second, taking yet another right at the last one. Once I had cleared the final corner I broke into a run, moving quickly to hide behind a nearby tree before my pursuer could have a chance to follow me more closely. After a few seconds I risked peeking around my hiding spot to see if the man had managed to choose the correct set of turns. He wasn't there, and after watching carefully for another five minutes, I was confident that I had lost him.

"Good quick thinking, who was that?" Miyoko asked.

"I wish I knew, but I probably don't want to meet the guy, he's probably bad news."

"Something tells me we haven't seen the last of him ether." I sighed.

"Tell me about it, now I have to try and rush back to the apartment, without getting caught. I have to move fast too."

"Other than the obvious, why?"

"Because I'm still hungry!" I heard s sharp slap sound come from my Midas card in the strange tone, and I guessed it was because Miyoko had just face palmed.

"Well let's get on with it then, to a miracle and beyond!"

"Where have you been man, seems like you haven't been around all day!" I walked into the kitchen, placing Miyoko on the counter and pulling out bread with various, and quite random, ingredients.

"I was in the Financial District this morning, but I mostly spent the day wandering around town, seeing what there is to see before I find a way to take off."

"Did you enjoy what you saw?" He asked me.

"Other than most of the people looking really depressed, yeah this place is pretty cool, but that isn't all." My voice hardened a little bit more than I had intended for the final words.

"What happened?" Hisaki asked seriously.

"I was followed on my way back, I didn't get a chance to find out who, and I managed to lose him, but it was very unsettling." Hisaki shook his head slowly.

"Wow dude, you must have made somebody mad in the Financial District. You think it's that guy you made go bankrupt?" I shook my head.

"I saw a news article on one of the big screens hanging in town, the guy died shortly after losing the deal, there was no way it was him." As I continued making our evening meal, everyone was pretty quiet. The last few days had been really big and stressful for all of us, and for Miyoko and I it was only going to get worse. Find the answer to leave this world, or die trying.

**DAYS UNTIL C EVENT HIT'S JAPAN: THREE**

Unfortunately for us, no one had managed to come up with a reasonable suspect for my stalker over the next few days in fact, every idea we came up with gave us more questions than answers. The stalker followed me three more times in the two days that followed. Each time I had to create some sly way of losing him to make sure I didn't reveal where I had been staying.

Additionally, with the C event coming, everyone had noticed that members of the Starling Guild were challenging people to deals like crazy, and their margin for winning was becoming a lot larger. I hadn't been challenged just yet but I had a feeling Mikuni was bound to come for me soon.

It was clear that the situation was becoming very, very dangerous for me. I needed to get out of this world and fast. In my desperation for a way out, I decided to try and drill Masakaki for answers once again.

"Wait are you serious dude? Haven't you tried twice already to get answers out of that guy, and didn't he tell you both times to buzz off?"I shrugged at Hisaki's protest.

"I'm tired of waiting for the answers he promised me would 'come in time,' I need my answers. The sooner I can leave this world and search all of creation, the faster I can find that kid." Hisaki sighed and slumped in his seat on the couch.

"Yeah but, what if he gets mad or something, and like, riggs your next deal?" Miyoko scoffed dismissively.

"If Masakaki doesn't want to hear Kevin rant all he has to do is plop him back here and had back to the district. Penalizing an Entre for being mad isn't really that guy's style anyhow." Hisaki crossed his arms.

"Alright, well best of luck to you Kevin, but I don't expect you to get much out of Masakaki." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"I know, and to be honest I'm not expecting much myself, but I have to try. I'll see you in a bit." I left the building and started heading for the street corner, where (for no reason) I always called my ride to the district.

My Midas card was currently in my back pocket, Miyoko keeping an eye out for the strange stalker guy who was bound to appear before I headed off to the district. As I reached the corner I prepared to take out my Midas card when I was suddenly grabbed by someone from my left. _Where the hell did he come from?_ As I tried to pull myself free, a windowless white van pulled up and two more big, bulky guys piled out. _Well I'm totally a goner now._

After being brutally thrown into the van, my hands were tied around my back and pushed onto a seat located on the side of the van. Across from me sat a man dressed in a perfectly white suit, classic red rose pinned on the one side. He looked like a rich boy who wanted something from a commoner, and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. _Dammit, my day just sucks already doesn't it? _The van was shifted into gear and we began moving.

"Hello Kevin." I glared at him.

"I can assume you're the one who's been stalking me for the last three days right?" The man laughed,

"We noticed you had caught on, so we gave you the illusion that you had given our guy the slip yesterday, but instead we had all three of these guys following you at different times."

"So, what exactly do you want from me, money, to kill me?" The man laughed.

"I'm not interested in your money, and if you cooperate, you'll walk away from here alive. I already know you're from Gaia and searching for Nick, but what I want to know is, why do you want to find him so badly?" I hesitated. "Don't be shy, I've already tortured him, but he wasn't quite helpful enough, but I'll get what I need out of you, if you value your life that is." The man had a scar above his right eye that looked fairly recent. Something told me that the winged kid, no, Nick, had given Evander a run for his money. On top of all of this, I had gotten a piece of information from Evander without giving him squat.

_One thing learned so far, and if I can keep this guy talking, who knows what else I might be able to find out?_

"It's because he disappeared from my world without a trace, so I wanted to track him down." The man chuckled.

"I don't think you expect me to believe that, but for now I'll play your little game. Since we're both perfectly aware Nick isn't in this world, and that you need to jump again to find him but haven't done so yet, means that you haven't found the entryway to the Guardian yet have you?

"Maybe I have, but have something I want to take care of here first." _So, it is possible to jump worlds again, and I apparently have to find one of these, entryways._

"I think we both know that's not true. So, why do you want to find Nick so badly, and why did you come here first? I want to know what your goals are Kevin, and if you won't cooperate…" The man takes a gun from the hidden holster on his belt and turns it over. "I'm afraid this won't end cleanly. I've already had one person tear my men to pieces, and I don't plan on waiting for that to happen again, so tell me what I want to know right now or DIE!" Something told me that Evander got his butt handed to him recently by another one of these 'Jumpers,' and that he wasn't joking around. _Seriously, I hate delusional psychopaths like this guy more than anything. Always thinks there's some hidden mystery to our motives when It's actually staring him in the face._ I sighed out loud.

"You wanna know something mister…"

"Evander."

"Evander, all right I'll tell you what I plan to do." Evander grinned, clearly thinking I was going to give him what he wanted, which I had, but he didn't realize it yet. Secretly, I managed to dig my Midas card out of my back pocket and summon the taxi.

"I plan on sending us all to hell right now, since I hate having guns pointed at me." The van was slammed from the left side, knocking it over and sending everyone crashing in all directions. I was lucky, I had mostly shallow scratches with aching in my body, but no serious injuries, making it easy to walk away from this. Evander had a bleeding cut on his head and was moaning, but he would soon be up. The other three men were either knocked out or dead, and I didn't care which right now.

Grabbing Evander's gun and opening the slide door above me, I climbed out of the dented van and towards the taxi.

"Quite an entrance. I didn't think you made house calls like that." I said jokingly to the driver.

"I try to avoid it but sometimes exceptions are made." Whatever the driver meant by that. I heard a scream from outside the window as Evander climbed out of the van.

"Make that twice your ass has been handed to you recently." I shouted at him. "If you want to settle things with me, settle it after the C event in three days, and don't tell me you didn't know it was coming." I rolled up the window and headed off to the Financial District, sharing a cup of noodles in celebration with Miyoko before heading back to Hisaki's place, since I no longer felt the need to talk to Masakaki. Hisaki was sure to have questions for me, but despite almost being killed back there by the mysterious Evander, I felt like I had gained some answers.

**Evander, and Nick, this sounds like a few characters that exist somewhere… If you don't know what I'm talking about go do some looking. I'm not the only Yordle here who is doing some writing. (Yes we are in cahoots, and yes no you cannot make a short joke!)**


	9. Chapter 9: A Friend in Need

**Now, time for some answers on what Kevin REALLY is, and of course since this is one of Hisaki's friends this is going to end perfectly. NOT!**

Chapter Nine:

**DAYS UNTIL C EVENT HIT'S JAPAN: THREE**

As I walked into Hisaki's apartment, I was starting to limp from the day's events, and there hadn't been too many just yet. It was barley noon! Miyoko had warned and advised against walking in the front door, out of fear that Hisaki would rush me, but I failed to listen, and ended up paying the price for it.

Upon walking in the door, Hisaki grabbed my shoulders hard, almost shoving me back into the door, bombarding me with questions. Was I hurt, what happened, who were they, and many more very annoying questions. My head hurt, but only because if Hisaki's overboard (but yet very appropriate reaction) to the violent appearance of the man named Evander. I managed to get Hisaki's arms off my shoulders.

"I'm fine dude, seriously. The incident with the taxi left me with little more than a few scratches and bruises. I'll be fine in three days time." Hisaki let out a sigh of relief.

"Well that's good news. Good thinking to use the Financial District as an escape tool. That guy out there looked pissed, who was he?"

"If I had to guess, I would say some kind of mad Jumper hunter." Miyoko answered calmly.

"'Jumper hunter?'" Hisaki repeated in a confused tone. I nodded a few times.

"Yeah, based on what he said it sounds like people who change worlds are called 'Jumpers,' and I'm apparently one of them." Hisaki smiled.

"That's wicked cool dude, it's like being in some secret cult, but you're actually doing cool things! You could go to so many different places!" I laughed.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it. But I learned something even more valuable." Hisaki got excited.

"Do you know how to change worlds?" I shook my head but Miyoko answered before I could.

"Not quite, but we know that jumping requires some sort of passageway and has something to do with a 'Guardian.'"

"Is that friend of yours in town yet? I'd really like to speak with her sooner rather than later." We walked over and sat on the couch, my right leg was not fun to stand on.

"That's actually why I was there watching the whole thing in the first place. I got a text from Alex saying she would be happy to meet you in her hotel room not too far from here. She wants to meet you ASAP, apparently you could be a critical part to her investigation." I looked at Hisaki in confusion.

"What kind of investigation.?" He shrugged in response to my question.

"I honestly have no idea, no matter how much I pried she would never tell me, saying that it was a very top secret sort of thing. The only clue I ever got was after I told her I was in the Financial District, and then she questioned me for three hours." I raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds like one dedicated woman." Miyoko observed with a hint of amusement. Hisaki looked drained from just talking about her.

"Yes but once she gets talking you can't shut her up, the motor that won't run out of gas." I laughed, thinking of a certain crazy friend of mine back home who was the same, but a little less on the brainy side.

"Alright, how long is the walk?" I asked, opening the door behind me.

"Not too long, fifteen minutes maximum."

In the end, we took twenty minutes to get to the hotel building where Hisaki's friend was staying. Half the time I was limping on my right leg because of the collision it had back in the van. I probably could have ignored the pain, but Miyoko insisted we took a break halfway through because she could hear me trying to stifle my grunts. Her reasoning involved staying "healthy enough to outrun a hurricane." _I guess I shouldn't complain, there is definitely a hurricane coming within the next few days._

The hotel wasn't the fanciest thing I had ever seen, a three story, normal looking dark grey building without any noticeable damage. From the number of windows I believed there to be about roughly twelve rooms per floor, which made me guess this place saw only a reasonable amount of business. In front of the hotel was a small parking lot, and when I say small I mean _puny_, maybe able to hold four cars. A slightly larger grass lot occupied the rest of the space.

In front of the hotel I noticed Hisaki's friend pacing back and forth, like she was waiting for something important. _Is she really that eager to meet me? She really _is _dedicated to her work_. The second she spotted Hisaki and I she ran right for us, hugging Hisaki tightly and laughing.

"I thought you two were _never_ going to show up! I've been waiting in front of this hotel for twenty minutes!" _Twenty minutes, _I thought to myself, _this girl is crazy._ Looking at Hisaki, I could tell that he wasn't totally crazy about the embrace he was getting from his friend either and after two or three seconds he managed to escape from her arms.

"Good to see you too Alex, glad to see you're still as crazy as ever." Alex didn't seem too bothered by Hisaki's sarcastic comment.

"Aww, aren't you sweet!" she rubbed the top of Hisaki's head, and it was the first time I realized just how tall the woman was. Easily standing six feet tall, she towered over Hisaki, her hair stretching down to her shoulders back in a ponytail, and her clothes were just as plain, simple logo-less T-shirt and jeans. She seemed ordinary and yet, something in her eyes said that she was one of the most focused people I was ever going to meet. She turned to me.

"So, this is the World Jumper I've heard so much about from Hisaki?" I bowed politely.

"Kevin Tanner, a pleasure to meet you." Alex smiled, and it was like her whole aura changed in a moment, becoming very serious and professional.

"Formal, very nice but highly irrelevant around me." I stood up straight and looked at her in surprise.

"Alright, I'm cool with that, probably better for me anyway." I replied.

"So, I hope you're not planning to lock yourselves in the hotel room without me, Alex," Hisaki shot a meaningful look at his friend, "because I've been looking after him all these months while you've been stuck somewhere in Africa."

"Yes and as it turns out it was pointless, I should have just come straight here after you called me!" Alex pouted, going back to the childish, crazy attitude she had when she hugged Hisaki a minute ago. _How many mood swings can one person have in a minute?_

"So, shall we go inside? I'm sure we both have a lot of questions for each other." I motioned my hand towards the hotel, not wanting to waste any more time with an old rivalry between these two.

Inside the hotel was just as plain and ordinary as the outside. More modern and closer to what I'm used to, the floor was light colored tile decently polished, and the walls, although a plain dark green, held on them many pictures of wonderful scenery. All of it bored me to death, but looked nice doing so. Additionally, big surprise, being only a three story building there wasn't an elevator for us to take. We instead climbed the stairs to the top floor, the last room on the left.

I hung back a few feet to keep away from Hisaki and Alex, who were still butting heads in their own unique way. Hisaki was getting frustrated but still making an attempt to make a joke out of everything, while Alex counted everything Hisaki said with some childish reaction.

"Some friendship those two have, I'm glad that isn't us!" Miyoko sighed. "Of course, fighting would only get in the way of Deals and our eventual goal of finding Nick." I smiled, amused at how Miyoko was thinking this through in a professional way, trying to avoid getting into details of complicated friendships.

"Agreed, but remember, sometimes the people closest to you are the ones you fight with the most. While this isn't always true, I think it's the case for Hisaki and Alex."

"Please don't bring you world's crazy metaphors into this!" Miyoko whined.

"But I looked into it, and they're _your _world's crazy metaphors too, and look, were having an argument!" I heard Miyoko let out a huff of annoyance, but didn't pressure the matter further, instead falling silent as we entered Alex's room, which was very similar to the lobby downstairs, only difference being carpet instead of tile, and of course the fact that it was a living space not an entry way to a hotel. I found that the whole setup was similar to Hisaki's room, still different of course but it made me feel comfortable very quickly.

Sitting down in one of the four chairs around a small coffee table, Hisaki and I waited for Alex to finish getting herself a glass of water before sitting down.

"If you don't mind Alex, I'd like to start with my questions first. I'd rather not be too edgy while answering your questions." Alex smiled and nodded.

"That's fine, go ahead and ask away, I just hope I'll have the answer for you." It took me a minute to figure out what to ask, there were so many things I needed to know.

"Alright, first off, do you know how jumpers change worlds?" Alex leaned back in her chair, bringing her hand up to her face in thought.

"Tough one right off the bat eh, unfortunately I don't have any solid information on that myself, but I have a few clues." Alex took a sip of her water. "According to the legends I've read, Jumpers have to find a place where no normal person is able to enter, and there they will find a seal, representing the world they are currently on. Once they find the seal, they have to face off against the guardian, the one who protects the world they watch over. Once they prove themselves worthy, they can travel to and from that world."

"Face off, what kind of 'face off' are we talking about here?" Miyoko asked from my back pocket. In a flash, I had the card out of my pocket and leaned it up against the chair facing outward. My mistake for not warning Alex that my asset was a social butterfly, and it took me a minute to remember that Hisaki's friend was already well aware of the existence of the Financial District before I stopped panicking.

"You must be Miyoko, the Ice Queen of the district! Hisaki's told me about what you can do, I must say that you're the most impressive asset I've ever heard about!" Alex's kid tone was back, and although I couldn't actually see her from my angle, I could tell that Miyoko was rolling her eyes, probably inwardly embarrassed but ninety percent annoyed.

"That's me," Miyoko replied in a more neutral tone, "but what were you talking about when you mentioned a faceoff with the guardian, what did you mean?" Alex leaned forward and rested her head on closed fists, thinking hard before giving Miyoko an answer.

"I don't know for sure to be honest, but my best guess is that in order to leave this world, you're going to have to fight whoever watches over and protects this world to prove that you're strong enough to leave." _A fight with someone who could be essentially a god, well this sounds fantastic, but it doesn't sound like we actually have to kill this guardian, just defeat them._

"So do you know where we can find a seal like that here?" I asked Alex after a few moments. "Or what kind of guardian this world has?" Alex laughed.

"Kevin, I'm no jumper, and I'm not even in the Financial District, so I don't have the answer to those questions. If I had to guess, the gate is probably somewhere hidden in the district, based on what stories I've had Hisaki dig up for me."

"You still owe me a few favors for those." Hisaki muttered.

"Alright, that doesn't tell us much, but at least it's something to work with, thanks." Alex smiled.

"Were there any more questions or is it my turn to put you in the hot seat?"

"I have one; can a Jumper bring someone with them when they leave?" I wasn't surprised at Miyoko's question, we needed an answer to this sooner rather than later, but after five minutes of Alex sitting in her chair lost in thought she hadn't given us an answer.

"Alex, you still there?" I waved a hand in front of her face. Hisaki lowered my hand away.

"She's really deep in thought, I think she had the answer but is going to have to dig for the answer." Hisaki's reasoning for the current state of Alex didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I went along with it. It was a painful wait, minutes felt like years and after almost an hour I was ready to rip my hair out. _How long does it take to think about one single question? This girl really confuses me._

"Hisaki, we don't have all day, is she ever going to give us an answer, or at least tell us she doesn't know the answer?" Miyoko was close to losing whatever cool she had left, and Hisaki could tell, he didn't want to be on the receiving end of my partner's unleashed sharp tongue.

"I got it!" Alex suddenly declared her eyes once again full of life.

Having been pacing for the last ten minutes, I finally returned to my seat to listen to this answer an hour in the making.

"So what's the answer?" Miyoko asked impatiently, frustration filling her voice.

"Chocolate pudding!" My mouth dropped in shock, I could feel Miyoko ready to kill someone, and Hisaki just slapped his forehead. Alex burst out in laugher after seeing our expressions.

"Alright, alright I'll give you the real answer now!" Alex said through bursts of laughter. "Yes, you can bring other people and objects with you, I'm fairly certain of that. Unfortunately I don't know what happens to those people on the other side though." Well it was something, at least I now knew that Miyoko could tag along, but now I was worried what would happen to her once we got to wherever we were going, and that was assuming we survived the battle with the guardian. This was an absolute mess!

"Thanks for answering our questions Alex, do you have any more Miyoko?"

"No, and I don't think I could wait another hour for an answer anyway." Miyoko was clearly upset about waiting for an hour for an answer, and it wasn't even a perfect one!

"Alright so now it's my turn!" Alex cracked her knuckles and pulled out a small note card from her pocket, and then it folded out and kept unfolding until it hit the floor. Alex laughed again and pulled an extra long note card out from behind her real one. This girl loves practical jokes!

"Anyway, first question, how did you become a Jumper?" It took me a minute to recall that day so many months ago, when I was first told about Nick by Zack.

"Let's see, I first became a jumper after falling asleep and waking up in a strange white room with a bunch of different colored squares on the walls. After touching one I ended up here." Alex looked confused by my explanation.

"Just like that? There wasn't any longing desire to leave, go somewhere else and try and be a hero…" I realized what she was talking about.

"Well I did feel bored with my old life, and one of my friends found out about another jumper who left our world, so I wanted to go after him and now, here I am!" Alex looked a little less confused after I further explained the situation me becoming a Jumper.

"Alright that makes a little more sense, a person can only become a Jumper under certain conditions, and just traveling with one doesn't make you a Jumper either, and you've just confirmed what I know."

"So how do you become a Jumper?" Miyoko asked, sounding very interested in knowing how to become a Jumper.

"Well, according to my theory, there is one rule above all else that must be present in order for a person to become a Jumper. A person must have a strong desire to leave the world they are currently on without being suicidal, and there must be a trigger event for their home guardian to make them a Jumper."

"Wait," I interrupted, "the guardian that protects my world made me a Jumper?" Alex nodded.

"Yes, and it's not without a reason. Guardians are very indifferent to the actions of humanity, or whatever species occupies their world. So if they make someone a Jumper, one can probably assume they have some sort of motive behind it."

_A motive, so why did my Guardian make me a Jumper?_ I didn't have a clue as to why, unless my goal of finding Nick matched up with what my worlds Guardian wanted.

From this point I answered Alex's questions without learning anything more about Jumpers, most of it was just confirming what Alex and I had already figured out. Hisaki and I returned to the apartment confident in what we needed to look for the next day, a seal of Midas located somewhere in the Financial District.

**And so the mission beguins. Kevin at last has something to do besides run around, and for those of you blaming me for holding off this direction, blame Alex for being in Africa all this time.**

**In all seriousness, I had to enjoy the world of C Control before moving on, wanted to have **_**some**_** fun before making it a total hell pit! See you all next week!**


	10. Chapter 10: THIS is Your Girlfriend?

**Alright, so now that the logistical issues are gone, it's time to rejoin Kevin and Miyoko in their quest to escape the series of events that is caused by C! Wait, hang on Hisaki's door is opening before anyone is awake…**

Chapter Ten:

**DAYS UNTIL C EVENT HIT'S JAPAN: TWO**

Once all the questions had been asked and answered, the conversation turned to lighter topics. Alex lost any sense of the seriousness she had while discussing Jumpers, and went back to having a more childlike attitude. Because Alex hadn't been in town for almost two years, and had to leave the next day, the four of us ended up talking until we were almost too tired to stand up. Don't even ask how we managed to get back to the apartment without dying.

Formulating a plan in my mind, I had an idea of what now needed to happen in the next two days before C hit the country. Secretly enlisting my friend, I told Hisaki I wanted to be in another world in two days time, saying that I needed to move on with my search as fast as possible without mentioning C in any way.

Hisaki seemed glad to help me out, satisfied with my reasoning. I just hoped he would be okay after I left, but I hadn't had a chance to sit down and recall details and events to figure out what would happen to my friend just yet. In the end we both agreed to conduct a thorough search in the morning, and had gone to sleep somewhat peacefully for the first time in a week, and I didn't have any ominous dreams either, which I thought to be a good sign.

Unfortunately for me, I was about to get a rude wake-up call. A young woman's scream pierced the black veil of sleep I had wrapped myself in and made me jump, sending me face to face with the screamer.

Indeed a young woman, she was dressed in what looked like a very expensive suit, her black hair clearly well brushed and taken care of, and her makeup was clearly overdone. _Who is she, and what the hell is she doing in Hisaki's apartment?_

"What the hell are you doing in my Hisaki's apartment?" Well that was coincidental. "No one is allowed to live in this apartment except for Hisaki and me!" I was still trying to wake up and make some sense of the situation. From what I could piece together, this girl and Hisaki knew each other, and that she was absolutely crazy or overreacting, but since I hadn't had any chance to wake up yet I couldn't tell between the two.

"Can you give me five minutes to wake up first before you start yelling at me?" I moaned, dragging myself off the couch and stretching out.

"I won't, because you shouldn't even be here in this apartment!" Yeah this girl wasn't about to let off. I considered making breakfast and ignoring her, but if she really was a friend of Hisaki's, then that wouldn't be very polite, but then again I guess there wouldn't be a polite way out of this particular situation.

"Hisaki has been letting me stay here while investigate a missing persons case." I reasoned, quickly building a cover story in case this girl had no knowledge of the Financial District. The cover story was basically true as well, my whole reason for being here in the first place was to find Nick.

"Then go stay in a hotel! You have no right to mooch off of my Hisaki." I yawned uncontrollably, which for now I found to be a decent response to this girls protests. _Why does this girl keep referring to him as, 'my Hisaki?'_

"Regardless of if I find the guy I'm looking for, I'm gone in two days. And it's not like I forced Hisaki to let me stay, he offered." I was almost effortlessly trying to keep calm; due to the fact I'm not a crabby person first thing in the morning and I was still half asleep, so getting angry wasn't quite an option yet this morning. The woman turned to face Hisaki's bedroom, getting a disappointed look on her face.

"Yes, Hisaki is too nice for his own good; I need to teach him to only be nice to me!" I gave the girl a blank stare, what in the world was _up_ with this woman? One hundred percent delusional for sure, she was obsessing over Hisaki like he was her pet or something. _I guess some people are just meant for mental institutions._

The woman turned back to glaring daggers at me.

"Leave now so I can correct my Hisaki's behavior, or I'll make you!" she picked up the lamp sitting on the coffee table and brought it up like a baseball bat, ready to smash my head off. I held up my hands defensively and leaped to my feet, adrenaline rushing through my body, snapping me fully awake.

"Don't go crazy here, I don't understand why you're so mad, I'm just a houseguest!"

"Kevin, what's with all the racket, it's only six thirty." I heard Hisaki's tired question followed by a yawn. He walked out on the scene currently going on, but after looking back and forth a few times between myself and the woman, he jumped, becoming fully awake when he realized what was about to happen, and who was standing in the room with me.

"Mori, what are you doing here, I wasn't expecting you for another two weeks!" Mori half tossed half threw the lamp at me (which I almost didn't catch) and dived into Hisaki, hugging him tightly. It shocked me how fast she went from killer girlfriend to seemingly innocent victim in less than a second, and yet could do both at the same time.

"Why do you have this guy in your apartment, you know how dangerous it is to invite strangers into your home, especially those that try to beat up on girls!" Hisaki looked at me in confusion. I quickly waved my hands and shook my head, denying that I had taken any action against Mori. _This girl really just said to Hisaki that I wanted to beat her up. She is trying way too hard to get rid of me._

"Mori, I've known Kevin for months now, if he wanted to hurt me he would have done it by now!" the suited crazy lady clearly wasn't going to let it go that easily, her face was pleading and she kept protesting.

"But how am I supposed to spend time with you alone while he's here?" she pointed at me and I sighed, I wasn't here for the drama, and there was no way in hell I was getting involved in Hisaki's social life, not when I had a search to conduct anyway. Besides, it would probably be best if Hisaki took a break to deal with his social life with C coming.

"You know what, I'm just gonna head out and deal with my business now rather than later today, get the work done sooner yeah?" Hisaki shook his head and halted my approach to the door.

"I need to talk to you outside for a minute before you take off, it's important. Mori, I'll be fine, just make some coffee or something while I'm out." It was clear that Mori wasn't happy with Hisaki's decision, but didn't get a chance to question it, the door closing fully before she could get two words in. Hisaki took me to the same familiar street corner where we usually summoned our taxi, and where I got ambushed by Evander the day before.

"So what's the deal with her, waking me up by yelling at me and then almost beat me over the head with the lamp isn't a normal trait for a girlfriend!" I scratched the back of my neck. "She is your girlfriend right?"

"Yeah she is, you can tell by the way she acts around me. Quite the oddball isn't she?" Hisaki sounded almost defeated. "She wasn't this crazy a few years ago when we first met and got into it. I can't explain how she got like this in all honesty, and to be honest I feel sorry for how she ended up."

"Sounds like a complicated relationship issue, do you have any ideas as to what happened to her?" Miyoko asked with a soothing tone. Hisaki shook his head.

"Somehow she holds a _very_ important job for a big international cooperation, so she must have some sanity left in her. If she didn't I would think she'd have been tortured or something. I don't know maybe she ended up this way because I lost a deal, which is the best possible explanation." I rubbed my forehead with two fingers while slowly shaking my head.

"You have a very complicated relationship." Hisaki waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, as long as I can keep her from getting near you it won't matter as long as you get to the Financial District as soon as possible to find that gateway." I nodded slowly, clearly understanding the difficult position we were now in.

Mori needed special attention due to whatever condition she showed around Hisaki, and I was giving her a reason to commit a crime to fully send her overboard because she didn't want me around him. I needed to leave, and be gone for as long as possible during the day.

"Do you know how long Mori is going to be in town?" I asked.

"Roughly two weeks," Hisaki responded. "That's how long her vacation time usually lasts."

"Then we should get to the district as quick as we can, the sooner we start looking the better." Miyoko urged.

"Agreed, but I should get my stuff together, if I find the way out, I'm leaving right away, no time for goodbyes." I cracked my knuckles "I have a lot of time to make up in my search." Hisaki laughed.

"Alright, I won't make it sappy for you. I'll go distract Mori somehow, wait around this corner for ten minutes, then come inside." Hisaki turned around and we were surprised to see he was now face to face with his girlfriend.

"What's up Mori?" Hisaki asked, struggling to keep a calm tone.

"I want to know why this guy is such close friends with you, where did you meet him?" _Uh oh, how much did she hear of that?_

"At the arcade, where I meet most of the people I know." Was Hisaki's immediate reply, clearly an excuse he's used in the past to avoid revealing the existence of the Financial District to his girlfriend.

"Oh really?" I held my breath, waiting for her to reveal that she had overheard our whole conversation. "Well I'm just going to have to test his skill at the arcade then, since the only people you are friends with are people who've beaten you badly in the past." Hisaki let out an embarrassed sigh.

It was lucky that Mori didn't appear to hear anything important about our conversation, but clearly going to the arcade made Hisaki nervous. Sadly this wasn't a challenge I could back down from if I wanted to get this girl off my back. Besides, I played a lot of games when I was younger, was the only thing that could keep me interested at the time.

"I'll accept this challenge, but will you _please_ give me some space after I beat you?" Mori smirked the most evil smirk I think I've ever seen in my life, and I was sure to have nightmares from it.

"You, beat _me?_ Get real you street rat, you're the one going down today, and once you lose, you have to leave Hisaki alone for good." _If only you knew that wasn't really much of a punishment if I lose._ I would be a loss if I didn't manage to beat her, it would only mean sleeping on a park bench for two nights.

Hisaki slowly led us to the arcade, letting out deep breaths and muttering softly to himself, clearly he didn't think this was going to end well. Mori was next to him glancing back every ten seconds to make sure I was still walking fifty paces back. It was Mori's one requirement to all this, so she could talk with her boyfriend "uninterrupted" by me. She didn't seem to mind that he wasn't giving her an ounce of attention, more worried about the end result of this whole event.

"That girl is beyond crazy." I muttered to Miyoko after Mori looked at me again.

"Agreed, her personality is unlike anything I've seen before. Is this how most relationships are?" Miyoko wondered in annoyance.

"No, thank goodness, most relationships are far less complicated than what those two have." I took a minute to rethink my statement. "Actually, no other relationship is like what those two have."

"It makes you wonder what kind of event makes a person like that." Miyoko wondered. I honestly hoped I would never have to find out, because as much as I wanted Mori out of my life so I could get back to trying to live, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the state of her mind. Something was messed up upstairs, and there was nothing I personally could do to fix that.

After another half hour of walking, we entered Rayne's Arcade, and the place was massive. It was filled with all sorts of arcade games, both new and old. There were a few games I recognized, and all of them I was fairly good at, but bored me all the same. Not much impresses you after spending most of your childhood hunting down decent arcades, and then destroying every high score in an afternoon.

Mori made Hisaki pay for a day's worth of game tokens, which took me by surprise. Most of the arcades I had ever gone to stopped running on a token system, but it didn't really matter that much in the end. The conversion machine was over in the back of the arcade, and I was still standing just inside the door, waiting for the crazy lady to give me permission to move.

Some time later, probably after a trip to the restroom and an expedition to the food stand on the clear other side of the arcade, Mori headed back to me, a challenging stare deep in her eyes, set on the intent to kill.

"So, how are we going to do this?" I asked. Mori pointed to a pair of machines in the back, I couldn't make out what they were but they looked quite old.

"That is what we will be playing, high score wins." As the approached the game, I could slowly start to make out what the letters on the top of the console were, and just my luck, Mori pick Pac-man, the oldest game in my history and the only game I can no longer even stand to look at let alone play. It was just too easy.

"Pac-Man, are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her. Hisaki was shaking his head from behind me, so it was clear that Mori also had a lot of experience with the game. _So, is she finally someone who can challenge the skills I spent almost nine years honing into perfection?_

"Yeah you rat, unless you're scared to try!" I laughed and took my position at the left console.

"As if, bring it on!"

The competition lasted for almost an hour, playing simultaneously as the difficulty slowly became harder and harder. As we continued, there was periodic shouting of insults and threats back and forth, false promises being flung out in an attempt to break the others concentration on the game. Eventually, Mori lost her last life, while I still had an extra life and a few hundred more points left. After Hisaki confirmed that I was the clear winner I let myself get game over and turned to Mori.

"So, that's that." Mori looked anything but happy, in fact, she looked ready to kill me.

"Two days." She reluctantly spat out. "I give you two days to finish doing whatever you need to do before I make you move out of Hisaki's apartment." I avoided letting out a sigh of relief.

"I appreciate this, thanks." I gave a polite bow to Mori. "Now please excuse me, I have another appointment to make, have fun on your date you two!" I saw Hisaki gag a little on his drink before I ran out the door, clearly embarrassed to call this outing a date rather than an unexpected accident.

"Mori is a determined woman I'll give her that, but I never want to see her again." Miyoko complained.

"I'll second that, but that was probably the most intense game of Pac-man I'll ever play in my life." I laughed at the strangeness of the situation as I summoned my taxi.

"That's what you're bringing out of this whole situation!" Miyoko exclaimed with a mix of shock and anger. "My word you're the most hopeless Entre in existence." I kept laughing all the way to the district, and there was nothing Miyoko could do to shut me up until we got there.

_*Later in the Financial District*_

"So mister laughing stalk, where are we looking first?" Miyoko asked with arms crossed. I looked around, deciding where I should start the search. I figured that the seal wouldn't be anywhere in the plaza, more likely on the edge of the city. The question was which corner though. _To hell with it, just pick a corner and get searching!_

My Midas card was only at the second level, so I didn't have the ability to teleport anywhere, forcing me to take a long, complicated route down from the plaza into the city itself. The streets were fairly empty since it was the middle of the day and it was working hours, allowing me to move through the streets and into the alleys completely undisturbed.

Although she couldn't go too far from me, Miyoko helped search for some bright seal with the emblem if Midas on it, checking every corner I missed and cutting the time we took searching an area in half every single time.

"This isn't working!" Miyoko declared after almost seven hours of searching. "We haven't even covered twenty percent of the district, and not even the slightest hint of a Jumper seal!" I wiped my sleeve across my forehead.

"I know, and I'm getting a little frustrated that we haven't found it, but we have to keep looking, what other solutions do we have?"

"We could ask some information broker for information about placed people can't seem to go into." Miyoko suggested.

"Right, because didn't Alex mention that the seal would be in a place no normal person could get to? So what would qualify for that?" I wasn't against the idea of asking an information broker, but the question would seem kind of strange. 'Hey I need information on places people can't go to within the Financial District!' That isn't suspicious at _all._

"Wouldn't asking a broker be faster?" Miyoko pressed.

"I think asking that question would draw attention to us, and probably one of Evander's goons as well. That's the last thing we need right now." Miyoko narrowed her eyes in annoyance at my unwillingness to ask a broker about our situation. But considering I was wary of another spy from Evander, it was well justified.

"So what's the plan now?" She asked. I leaned up against the side of a building and folded my arms, trying to come up with another move.

"Well, it may seem odd, but after our deal in two days time we ask Masakaki for the answers. He promised they would come and I think it's time for him to pay up, in the meantime we keep looking around like this until we find something."

"That's a very risky plan, considering that Masakaki is almost never helpful. We'd be asking him right before C hits us on top of everything else, so wouldn't that mean he would have more pressing concerns than us?" Miyoko had a good point, but there really wasn't any other option. Everything else was either too dumb or left us too exposed, or both.

"I don't have any other ideas right now, so I guess we're stuck with this plan for the moment. Besides, if out luck holds we'll find the seal in a matter of minutes." I pushed off the building and motioned for us to head back to the plaza.

"Alright, fine I'm ready to call it quits for the day as well. Hopefully we can find the seal tomorrow and not have to follow through with this terribly risky plan of yours."

After another long hike back through the district and then back to Hisaki's apartment, I found that Mori wouldn't let have Hisaki have another of my home cooked meals. To be honest that didn't really surprise me too much, I'm not the kind of cook who's surprise should be revealed before the meal is served, that just leads to doubt and a reluctance to even eat my meals, despite them always working out.

In the end Mori had ordered takeout meals for the two of them, leaving me along in the kitchen to make my own dinner, which I didn't mind too much. Based on what I could get from Hisaki's expression, Mori had chosen one of the worst takeout joints this part of the city, and I didn't feel like hurling my guts out tonight.

After producing some crazy variant of a grilled cheese, I sat down on the opposite side of the table from Hisaki, and furthest away from Mori, who was glaring at me as I sat down.

"I cannot allow such terrible abominations that you call food allowed here!" I rolled my eyes and ignored her, while Hisaki continued to plead with her.

"Mori I'm telling you that his home cooked meals are amazing!" Mori jabbed him in the arm.

"I will hear no such things coming out of you, now be quiet and eat the meal I stood in line for twenty minutes to get!" Mori looked like she was almost ready to start feeding Hisaki, and I simply ate in silence, not wanting go get in-between those two for any reason. Doing so is hazardous to one's life, and should be avoided. _I'm so getting out to the district early tomorrow!_

**I only got one sentence for you guys. DANG THAT GIRL IS CRAY-ZY! I'll see you all next week ;)**


	11. Chapter 11: Double Dose of Insanity

**Time for some conversation and people dodging skills!**

Chapter Eleven:

**DAYS UNTIL C EVENT HIT'S JAPAN: ONE**

My dreams were closer to nightmares last night. I woke up in some kind of abandoned mansion where the dead bodies of Miyoko, Hisaki, and everyone else were on display like they were all a part in a crazy freak show. I didn't scream or panic though, I learned to recognize when I was dreaming a long time go, but it still left me a bit unsettled. The one shining light in the whole thing was seeing Mori hung by her neck looking limp, and I ended up giggling at the sight, since I had no idea why my subconscious registered this as a bad thing. So after then turning around and almost waking up, my dream felt intercepted by someone, and the scene shifted to the white room again. _Awkward 101, someone tell the teacher that I'm experiencing a moment of déjà vu_

This time things were a little different though, there were no papers to touch or even my bed, it was just a plain, white, room.

"Haven't we been through this already, you should know by now that I don't do cryptic!" I shouted at the roof.

"Do not worry Kevin Tanner, I only wish to talk to you." I spun around to find a heavily backlit character standing before me. I could tell she was female based on the voice, but I couldn't figure out anything else, because I couldn't see with the blinding light.

"What about, you here to give me some metaphorical bull and send me back home because I've 'learned my lesson?'" I said only half sarcastically, guessing she was the Guardian of either this world or mine. The woman shook her head, or at least I thought she did, the backlight made it really hard to tell.

"I'm afraid I cannot send you anywhere. In order to leave this realm you will have to defeat Midas, the guardian and ruler, only then can you leave." Midas_ is the guy in charge? I really need to beat Masakaki into ground beef._

"Do not worry, Midas is more generous to Jumpers than the people he watches over. There will be no strings attached when you leave, and you'll be able to take your friend along with you." Despite my wanting to believe this potentially good news, I was still skeptical. This being was clearly one of power but could have some hidden agenda. After a few more moments of thinking I decided to trust in what she said, I needed some good news anyway.

"Alright then, so why did you want to talk to me? I'm sure it wasn't just to give me good news and warn me about Midas." The woman pointed a finger at me.

"Because your goal is very different from most Jumpers that I send out in the multiverse, you desire something other than an escape from your world, and that is something I have rarely seen in a Jumper before he becomes one."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked warily, expecting some grand quest.

"You're time here in this world is at an end, the event that is coming is one that you cannot allow yourself to be a part of." I rolled my eyes as best as I could through my squint.

"Tell me something I don't already know, but the problem is I don't know where to go to find the seal! Can you tell me where Midas keeps his seal hidden at the very least?" The figure shook her head.

"I cannot. I do not know where Midas keeps his seals, but I sensed you were close to one yesterday, all you have to do is keep looking and surely you will find it." _Keep looking, yeah this _totally _changes my plans, first you give me the expectation of a grand quest and then you tell me that I might be close to a seal? Screw you!_

"So basically you disturbed my dreams just to tell me almost nothing new, not even bothering to point out what grand quest you have in mind for me?" The being didn't seem too worried about being accused, or if there was a reaction, it was too small for my nearly blinded eye to see.

"There is no grand quest, as there is no purpose to Jumpers other than to see what happens when worlds cross over each other. You decide your own destiny." _Great, more meaning of life bull, I'm so done with this lady._

"Alright, well at least you've given me a search area and told me that Miyoko get's to tag along, so I'll thank you for those little tidbits of information, but you're still pissing me off. By the way I didn't catch your name, so who are you?"

"As you have probably guessed, I am Gaia, the guardian of your home world. You must now wake Kevin, someone wishes to talk with you in the waking world." _Wait, what, who? _I had more insulting comments for Gaia before parting ways, but the room faded away before I could open my mouth.

My eyes shot open to find a frying pan descending rapidly towards my face. Moving quickly, I rolled myself off the couch and crashed into the floor as the cooking tool slammed into the cushion where I had been sleeping two seconds earlier. For reasons I couldn't explain, I was fully aware and awake from the second I woke up, and I felt no remnants of exhaustion from sleeping. _At least Gaia got one thing right!_

"What the hell Mori! You could've killed me right there, what were you thinking!" Mori didn't seem to be phased by my yelling, and when she turned back to me she smiled innocently.

"I said you could continue to sleep here, but I never said I would be nice to you while you stayed." I gritted my teeth and picked myself up off the floor, wishing I had a shotgun.

"We really should get you enrolled in a mental institution, because you're a danger to society." Mori just continued to smile.

"Hisaki already tried that." She explained. "But I was out of there within three hours, they couldn't handle my withdrawal from being away from Hisaki for that long." I gave Mori a confused look.

"So how do you explain being gone for months at a time working and not get put in jail from this withdrawal?"

"Because I know that when I work, I'm making money to keep my poor Hisaki alive, and that fact drives me so much I can't help but not do my very best!" _Look up nut job in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of this girl, this chick could've come out of an anim- oh wait._

"Alright whatever." I threw my hands up in defeat, unwilling to fight a battle of logic with someone who was mentally insane. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning anyway, so I think I can stand you for one more day." Mori hugged me from the side and wouldn't let go.

"But you will never escape me, ever." She whispered, sending a shiver through my body. I quickly pushed her off me and turned towards the kitchen. Grabbing my Midas card and a few energy bars from the cupboard, I quickly and hastily removed myself from the house and headed out for the street corner to head off to the Financial District, a little disturbed by Mori's actions this morning.

"Hey there Kevin!" Shouted Hisaki from my left, who was running down the side of the road in an exercise outfit, waving me down before I could leave.

"What's with the workout clothes?" I asked him, giving the clothes a look over. Both the shirt and pants were a dark green color and skin tight, with a matching green sweatband to complete the outfit. Hisaki was dripping in sweat and working on removing his ear buds as he stopped in front of me.

"Every time Mori comes to town she makes me start a workout routine, and she just harasses me until I go and do it. To be honest I should be doing it anyway, but I just can't muster up the energy when she isn't here."

"So in other words, you want to look nice for Mori." Miyoko said in an amused tone. Hisaki shrugged.

"I guess so. Hey can I ask you two a favor?"

"Sure," I replied, "what is it?" Hisaki looked around carefully, like he was expecting Mori to pop out of a bush at any second.

"Could you summon your ride to the Financial District somewhere else today? I think Mori might be getting a little suspicious that you keep coming out to this same street corner." I turned around, and I managed to spot Mori looking out the window just before the curtains closed. Raising an eyebrow, I turned back to Hisaki.

"Yeah, sure thing. Try and stall her for me, I'll give you my cell number, call me if you can't keep her busy." After turning on the phone that was hidden in one of the pockets in my original pair of pants, I noticed I actually got really good cell reception here, but I hadn't gotten the chance to give Hisaki my number until now.

"I still can't believe it took you all these months to get that phone of yours working." Hisaki teased, and I in return slugged him in the arm.

"Hey, remember I was a little busy to worry about the state of my phone."I responded, starting to walk down the street Hisaki had just run down. "Alright, I'm off to continue my search. Good luck with Crazy Queen in there!" Hisaki rolled his eyes but gave no further acknowledgement and jogged into the apartment complex, leaving me and Miyoko on our own to fine a safe place where we could summon our ride to the Financial District.

It took us a while to find a secluded area where we could safely summon the District taxi without drawing attention. It took us quite a while, but I eventually spotted an empty parking lot close to the parking lot where we had been dropped off on day one. It was well hidden behind a few buildings, trees, and large bushes. I resisted the urge to run through the streets to get there to avoid drawing any attention, and to help contain my excitement. I still had my goal of staying as low key as possible, not knowing if any of Evander's goons may be lurking around, still wary of the events from two days ago.

Since the park was only about fifteen minutes away, I arrived there without encountering any problems. I looked around to make sure that no one was watching, and just before I was sure that I was alone, a hooded figure disappeared behind a parked car on my left when I noticed them. About to go investigate who might be there, my cell phone rang, showing Hisaki's number on it. _Great, I'll give myself one guess as to why he's calling me._

"Hisaki, what's up?" I greeted, trying to sound cheerful.

"Take a guess dude." Hisaki said seriously.

"Mori got away from you and is now stalking me, and I had hoped this was about dinner." I answered, turning to leave the parking lot. "This is going to become problematic very quickly."

"No kidding?" Hisaki yelled sarcastically. "Have you used the Midas card yet?" I shook my head, instinctively thinking he could see me or something.

"No not yet. Thankfully, I checked to make sure the area was clear before I did, and I noticed a hooded figure sneaking around the parking lot watching me. I'm going to try to lose your girlfriend." I could hear Hisaki after I had let him know that the secret of the Financial District was safe.

"Thank god, alright I'm headed back to the apartment. It looks like Mori turned her phone off for now, so I need you to lose her before headed to the district today alright?"

"You got it Hisaki, operation 'how to lose a girl in ten minutes' is a go. I'll see you tonight if I don't succeed in my mission."

"Alright, later and good luck, Mori isn't the kind of girl you can shake off very easily." There was a beeping sound as the call ended, and I walked calmly out of the parking lot, moving about the city with no real goal in mind other than to find a way to lose Mori.

I made sure to take random pathways, double back a few times, and spend some time hiding in a few shops, but none of it seemed to do me any good. It was like no matter where I went or what I did, Mori could find me wherever I went. _What is she, some kind of tracking mutant or something?_ After almost five hours of running around, she was still on my tail.

"Kevin, I hate to say it but this plan isn't working." I rolled my eyes, forgetting that Miyoko couldn't see my facial expression, but my patience for Mori had evaporated.

"Really, are you sure? Because I could have sworn we lost her at least SEVEN INTERSECTIONS AGO!" Miyoko sighed.

"Look, just call her out, we both know she's there. Take a deep breath and talk to her okay?" It took me a minute, but I reluctantly followed Miyoko's suggestion. Making sure I was calm first, I called out to Mori and made sure to catch her eye. I was careful to make it _very_ clear that I knew she was there.

"What are you doing following me Mori, you don't need to watch me every second of every day you know!" For a minute, Mori looked like she didn't want to accept the fact that I has caught her, but eventually walked up to me and stuck her tongue out at me.

"You weren't supposed to find me, now I'll never know what kind of evil things you do all day!" I wanted to slap myself really badly, but somehow managed to refrain from doing it. I placed a hand on Mori's shoulder.

"Mori, I don't do evil things, I've been investigating a missing persons case, so I'm out interviewing people and looking into the leads they give me."

"But you haven't done any interviewing all day today, you're no investigator!" Mori accused. I waved a finger.

"That's not what I'm doing today." I replied, thinking quickly. "Since I'm leaving tomorrow, I thought I would get Hisaki a gift for being so nice to me for these past few months, but none of the shops around this part of town have looked any good."

"So wait, you want to give Hisaki something?" Mori asked raising an eyebrow. I nodded.

"Great! I know all the best shops around here, I'm sure you can get him something fantastic!" And that was the start of the longest shopping trip of my entire life. Including a small nap to regain our energy, Mori and I were touring shops all over the place until four in the morning the next day.

We checked out everything, fancy, overpriced stores, to pawn shops, to a used car lot, and even a woman's clothing store, which confused the hell out of me but I wasn't about to get on Mori's bad side after getting past what had happened the day before. Eventually, and thankfully, it finally came to an end when Mori got a phone call.

"Hello, yes Mr. Warren! Of course I'll fly over right away, no it's no trouble at all, yes I'll see you there." I raised an eyebrow at Mori.

"Your boss?" I asked while gazing over a mug with a panda on it.

"Yes, and it seems our network broke down, no doubt because of your criminal actions, I can't believe I let you sidetrack me!" Mori stormed out of the store, leaving me baffled as to how I went from friend to enemy in two seconds.

"Kevin, is it wrong if I never want to see her again?" Miyoko asked quietly.

"No, not really." I replied, matching her voice level.

"Just checking." I left the store and headed for Hisaki's apartment. It was now the day of C, and although that meant I had just one full day left to find the seal, I was too wiped to do anything but go home and sleep.

I sighed when I got to my favorite street corner, thinking about laying down and snoring for years, surprised to find myself coming face to face with Kotaro and Masakaki. _Son of a…_

"Hey there Kevin." Kotaro said, a little too neutral for me to have any sense of comfort. Something was very wrong here, my deal wasn't until tomorrow, but that didn't explain why Kotaro was here.

"Wait, Kotaro are _you _the person who challenged me to that deal?" I asked in realization.

"He sure is, and I'm sorry to say that he refuses to wait until this evening for a dea, I hope that doesn't inconvenience you too much mister Tanner." I shook my head, still trying to put the pieces together, unsure of why Kotaro would challenge me like this.

"I'm fine with right now, but before we go I need one question answered Kotaro, why challenge me?" Kotaro grinned a seemingly uncharacteristic evil grin.

"Because Evander has special plans for you Kevin, but I thought I would get myself ahead of the game and take you and that pretty little asset of yours down first!" he licked his lips. I sighed and shrugged, I was surprised by this, but at the same time he had gone insane to the point where I had seen it at least a thousand times before in anime.

I wasn't sure if it was from the exhaustion, but everything seemed to be going to hell less than a second, and I was ready to snap. I felt sorry for Kotaro, because if I was hallucinating right now about his attitude, he was about to get obliterated.

"Great, so you turned out to be some crazy psychopathic pervert who's looking at my asset. On top of that you want to impress your evil boss, I can't tell you how much I'm going to enjoy making you go bankrupt." I looked at Masakaki. "Alright, I'm ready and fired up, let's deal!"

"Perfect!" Masakaki chimed cheerfully. "I look forward to an excellent deal then!" Instantly we were in the middle of the Financial District, Midas cards out and ready for a deal. _How do people like him even keep an act like that up? Sometimes I think this jumping stuff makes people go crazy!_ Whatever the side effects of Jumping might be, I needed to destroy this guy, because illusion of my lack of sleep or not, this was a deal, and something told me that I wasn't just dreaming this one up. Kotaro's look of obsession was real, and this Evander lackey was going to try to finish what his boss had started.

**Don't ask to read the first draft of this chapter, please. In any event I have a lot of work ahead, because ch.12 has so many errors in it that I'm going to end up crying. Wish me luck everyone, because C is coming!**


	12. Chapter 12: Truth by Stand-off

**Alright guys public service announcement coming out, from here on in (for the last two chapters of this book and onward,) the chapters are more than 3k words! Estimations are anywhere from 4k to 5k words, so enjoy!**

Chapter Twelve:

**HOURS UNTIL C EVENT HIT'S JAPAN: 5**

Current time: 5am

Current location: Financial District

Swiping my fingers over my Midas card, Miyoko appeared in front of me to my right, looking calm but determined, with arms crossed in a relaxed stance. I realized that for some reason, she didn't consider our latest opponent any threat at all. Accepting that Miyoko was confident in our abilities despite my lack of sleep, knew that I had to proceed with caution because of my weakened mental state since she was probably pissed at Kotaro.

Kotaro's eyes looked almost bloodshot and sleep deprived more than mine probably did, and he was laughing manically as he summoned his asset. It was obvious that he had been spending his long hours of being awake much differently than I had.

The asset itself looked like some kind of giant beetle, standing up to Kotaro's knees with a sharp four-pronged horn on his head. The asset was a reddish brown in color, and it looked like although it couldn't move very fast, it probably hit hard with some kind of trick. _Hope that thing can fly, because if it can't, it's as good as frozen!_

"Should we try and end this with one shot? You don't seem to be the slightest bit afraid here." I asked Miyoko, who was now in a fighting stance facing the beetle.

"I would love to; this sleep deprived pervert and his bug are really starting to piss me off!" Miyoko yelled, rushing the bug asset before I had a chance to make the investment.

"Macro two billion!" I shouted, swiping my finger over my card as Miyoko reached within a few feet of the creature.

"Micro eighty thousand!" Kotaro cackled. _Wait, he's going to try and match my Macro with a _Micro!?

The giant bug reared up, ready to launch whatever Micro it was ordered to execute, but never got the chance. Miyoko leaped past the beetle, slashing at its exposed underside with her newly formed twin blades of ice as she flew past. Seemingly without touching the ground, Miyoko suddenly changed direction, flying towards her left at Kotaro, slashing at him endlessly, the entre unable to summon a direct to try and deflect a few of the attacks that were ripping him to shreds. _What the hell, _I thought looking at the scoreboard, _he's almost already bankrupt!_ I quickly came to the conclusion that Kotaro passed on most of his deals, making his funds off of being a popular information broker.

Turning around as fast as it was able, which wasn't very fast, the beetle tried to stop Miyoko's relentless onslaught of attacks. My ice asset was barely visible as she danced around Kotaro, slashing him as often as she could. Once the beetle was turned around, its horn began to glow a green color and he charged.

"Miyoko behind you, incoming Micro!"

Unfortunately for Kotaro's asset, my warning came just in time. The second the beetle like creature got close to Miyoko, it was knocked off its front two feet by two swift strikes and was forced onto its back, also beginning to take hits, although significantly less than what Kotaro was taking. Soon after that, Kotaro was on the ground, with Miyoko slamming her blades into his forehead. Money bled out of him faster than ever, and it only took two seconds for him to go bankrupt. I began to walk forward, ready to have one or two final words with him before he was banished.

"Kotaro!" I turned around, spotting Hisaki sprinting down the empty street towards his shredded friend.

"Well this is going to get interesting." Miyoko commented seriously, returning to her relaxed stance, her two blades evaporating.

To be honest I could understand how bad the scene looked, and could guess what was going through Hisaki's head right now. Kotaro was ripped to shreds and about to disappear, I was now standing only two or three feet from the bleeding body, with Miyoko standing next to me in a relaxed fashion instead of showing concern or panic. It was clear there had been a deal, that I had been his opponent, and it had been very one sided. Hisaki knelt beside his friend, occasionally shooting me a look of disgust. It was all I could do to not roll my eyes in pure annoyance.

"Why Kevin, you didn't have to make him go bankrupt!" I couldn't say I was surprised at Hisaki's accusation, he had known Kotaro longer than he had known me, or at least that's what he thought.

"Believe me Hisaki, if I truly thought he was a friend, or even someone innocent from your world I wouldn't have done it. Kotaro was working for Evander, the guy who tried to kidnap me the other day." Hisaki looked down at Kotaro.

"Is this true?" He asked. Kotaro looked normal, with the exception that he still looked like he hadn't slept in a year, and shook his head. _The bastard just denied it? Screw him!_ I wanted to find a sharp object and stab him again, but I knew it wouldn't really help the situation that much.

"He's lying to you Hisaki, he just wanted a few extra dollars from a weak opponent. I thought I could stop him, but I'm afraid he was too strong for me, goodbye." He sounded like he was forcing the words, even though he could have spoken normally just fine. After his sappy goodbye he disappeared, banished from the district for good. _What an actor, it was so good I almost believed it, but then again when you threaten my best friend…_

"Hisaki, if you do something stupid like challenge us right now I _won't_ let Kevin hold me back. I believe you have enough intelligence to know that I wouldn't let Kevin do something stupid like destroy one of your best friends without a quality reason." Miyoko's reasoning didn't seem to have any effect as Hisaki slowly stood back up, pulling out his Midas card in preparation for a fight.

"Then why man, why did you have to make him go bankrupt! Why did you have to make him go bankrupt?" Hisaki screamed the last words. I understood that Kotaro's life was pretty much over, at least for the next twenty-four hours. The reversal of the rotary press would fix his life, and to be honest Kotaro was pissing me off, no one talks like that about my partner!

"Leaving out the disgusting perverted thoughts about Miyoko, Kotaro could have challenged me to consecutive deals until I was out of time." Hisaki still looked just as angry, not even trying to calm down.

"Out of time for what? Is your deadline for finding Nick so important you're willing to sacrifice others?"

"God no!" I responded immediately. Miyoko turned towards me.

"We need to tell him, anything else results in Hisaki getting hurt unnecessarily." I sighed, knowing that Miyoko was right. It was time that I told Hisaki about what was going to happen to Japan in the coming hours.

"Tell me what, what haven't you told me that's so important?" I took a deep breath, slowly letting it out before I began talking.

"Alright, Hisaki I didn't want to panic you, but have you noticed how things in the city have been getting worse over the last few days?"

"Yeah, so what of it?" Hisaki wasn't thinking rationally yet, man that guy can really lose it!

"It's because Japan's Financial District is taking some hits as a result of another District about to go bankrupt." It took Hisaki a minute to process this, but soon his anger was replaced with stunned shock.

"Wait, are you talking about-"

"C." Miyoko finished for Hisaki. "Yes, tomorrow C will spread through eastern Asia and eventually hit Japan." I couldn't tell if this was processing this correctly. If I were in his position, my mind wouldn't be able to process all of this information. First one of your best friends goes bankrupt, then you learn it's because he's with a gang of inter-dimensional goons, then you learn that C is going to tear everything you know apart. In about thirty seconds, yeah this is one big crap fest for him.

"Wait, so the rumors are true then? When C hits a financially weak Japan, we're going to disappear?" I shook my head.

"Alright, I'm going to give you a minute to breathe, then I need you to calm down and follow me, can you do that Hisaki?" My friend took in a few deep breaths, and after a moment of silence, he glared at me seriously.

"Alright, so the reason Kotaro wanted you stuck in deals for the next twenty-four hours is because he knows that C will his Japan, but won't make us disappear, so why go through the effort. Keep in mind that I'm still not sure I believe you." Taking Hisaki's warning in mind, I started my explanation based on what I remembered from the anime all those months ago.

"C will hit Japan in five hours, but we'll survive it thanks to the efforts of the Starling Guild. However the future of Japan for the next twenty years or so will be sacrificed for its survival. C will then bounce off of America and then come back to us. Unable to stop it this time because of a former member going rouge, C hits the second time, and just as all seems lost, this same rebel will give the future back in the same way it was sacrificed to save Japan, everything resets, kinda. And since I don't think I can survive this reset, I need to get the hell out." I realized I sounded totally crazy, but it was the truth, and all I had to go on. Hisaki was thinking hard, but didn't look like he believed me. After all, everyone's future is held as collateral, and that would mean I should just live through the reset with everyone else, not die from it. _Man why was that both a mouthful and totally confusing all at the same time, I should have just given the TL;DR version!_

"Let me ask you something Hisaki." Hisaki looked up at Miyoko, ready for her question.

"Have you ever seen or heard of Kevin losing out of something, any part of his future, after losing a deal?" I realized that Miyoko was right. I had lost a few deals in my earlier days as an Entre, one very badly, but I had never seemed to be punished for it. It was like the bank had no hold on me. Hisaki's eyes widened as he realized this as well.

"If the bank has no ability to manipulate the future, what happens when everything resets?" I asked rhetorically. Hisaki slowly started to relax, realizing the desperate situation we were in, but at the same time he looked confused.

"So why not take a plane out of Japan then, get out while this goes down?" I tapped my head.

"No passport or ID, I wouldn't get through Airport security, let alone out of the country. And with only seventeen hours left until this whole thing goes down, I don't have the time or paperwork to get the necessary documents." Hisaki shook his head.

"You two are probably the craziest people I've ever met in my life. Alright I have one last question, what happens to me when this event goes down?"

"Probably nothing," I replied honestly, "to be honest whatever future you've lost so far to the district might be restored when this happens." Hisaki took another minute to think, then walked forward, holding out a closed fist.

"Alright, I'll have more questions as we search, but I think we need to get you to that seal man." I smiled and put my fist to his, nodding.

"Agreed, the sooner the better."

**7AM, THREE HOURS UNTIL C**

Hisaki didn't have too many questions, although I was forced to explain how I was attempting to dodge Mori for most of the previous day, and how she was a tracking goddess, then forced to spend the whole evening shopping. Hisaki laughed and explained to me that one of her specialties was tracking down people in a crowd, and that convincing her to go shopping instead of killing me was a miracle.

Unfortunately, the next two hours didn't turn out so well. We searched up and down the area where the seal was supposed to be, but unfortunately found nothing at all. There were no bright lights, no hidden passageways, and no hints. We were totally clueless of where to look after two hours of finding nothing.

"Dude, are you sure it's in this area? Maybe we should look somewhere else in the district." Hisaki shook his head. "I know you were told by Gaia that the seal is in this area, but dude, it's just not here." I sighed slowly in reply.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that way myself. Alright let's expand the search to the south a little, maybe we needed to search outward instead of-" I was cut off as Mecha started to howl, the giant asset had been searching in a nearby area, but his scream sounded as if he was closer than that. Quickly checking my watch, I noticed that it was 7am, which gave us three hours until C, so why was Hisaki's asses in pain? Unless…

"Kevin, what the hell is going on, is this C?" Hisaki asked, struggling not to panic. Remaining calm, I shook my head.

"No, it's still too early for that. My guess is that Mikuni just started up the rotary press and is now exchanging our future for a _lot_ of money." My gaze quickly went over the entire area where we were searching once again, desperately searching for the seal that would get me out of this world. _My time is half up, Midas I swear we're going to have to have words once I find you!_

"Are you sure I can't do something for Mecha, he sounds like he's about to die dude!" Hisaki's voice was almost pleading.

"This pain is connected with the rotary press sapping the future away from Japan," I explained again, "all we can do it wait it out. Most of the pain should pass in a few minutes, but there will still some minor aches for the next few hours."

Twenty minutes later Mecha stopped screaming

Moving towards the southern end of our target area, we doubled our efforts looking for the seal. There weren't very many wandering Entre's at this point, but we asked any we ran into if they had seen anything, but no one had any helpful advice for us, and soon Hisaki was getting discouraged.

**Time: 11:00am (1 hour after first C event.)**

**Hours Until Reversal of Rotary Press: est. Twenty-Six**

"Man, we're never going to get you out of here!" Hisaki pounded his fist against a building to his left.

Currently, we were walking down one of the main streets, the name of which I still didn't know, and it was completely empty, the first C event scaring off every Entre in the district. Total ghost town for the first time ever. It had been a long three hours, and had experienced the first run of C. Once again the assets started screaming in pain as Japan started to disappear. Miyoko didn't feel any pain like before, but she did start pixleating, like she was a glitchy computer program. Everyone took it as a sign that we needed to get our butts in gear and call in every resource, meaning Masakaki.

Unfortunately for us, the guy didn't come when we called, too busy dealing with the main conflict of C, the battle to decide the future. _One he's going to lose I might add, not like cares though._

"We have to keep at it, but you're right I'm getting worried myself, we've looked up and down the district without any sign of the Midas seal, and I'm starting to think that we're not going to make it out of here." I know my words weren't encouraging, but I at least needed to accept a possibility before I crushed it into the dust.

"You won't make it out of here, I won't let you escape after what you did to me." I turned around sharply to find a somewhat familiar white tuxedo standing a half block away from me.

"God dammit Evander, could you at least wait until after I deal with one crisis before you spring another on me!" I shouted back, hiding my surprise at his appearance.

"As sharp tongued at the last time we met, but I cannot allow you to leave this world. Whatever you're planning with Nick, I'll make sure you don't succeed. I'll make you go bankrupt right here, then leave you trapped to rot away in this world for the rest of your life with the poor future this country is going to live with!" I realized that he must not know that C was going to come back, or that this country was about to undergo a reset, meaning that If _I _bankrupted _him_ instead he would be out of my hair. It would be a fitting punishment for torturing Nick and almost kidnapping me.

"Please Evander, deals are the one thing I can do well in here, you really think you can make me go bankrupt?" Evander smiled calmly, letting out a low laugh.

"Maybe not me, although I'm willing to do some of the dirty work, no you have to go against my army, and I'll make sure you go bankrupt." Evander snapped his fingers, and suddenly about ten to fifteen Entre's came out of various hiding places in the area. _Oh you have _got _to be kidding me, why do the bad guys always have an army?_

"Kevin, please tell me what's going on." Hisaki whispered from behind me.

"The man in the white suit is named Evander, you know, the guys who tried to kidnap me? I think he's some sort of Jumper hunter or something, either way he wants me dead, and we don't have time for this, we only have about a day left!"

"Just pass on every deal then, go and search for the seal!" Hisaki whispered back. I shook my head.

"I'm guessing the test is a deal itself, so if I'm low on funds going in I'll have no chance against Midas. No, it looks like we're going to need to fight this one out."

"Defeat sixteen Entre's back to back?" Miyoko scoffed softly. "These guys look pathetic, come on Kevin let's tear them apart!" I approved of Miyoko's enthusiasm, but it wasn't hard to tell that it was a front, she was just as scared as I was.

"Alright Evander!" I shouted, "we're throwing down right here!" But before I could move to officially challenge my well dressed nemesis, some guy in a blue coat blocked my way.

"I'm afraid you'll have to deal with me before you can touch the boss." I growled furiously, but took out my Midas card to deal with my first opponent.

"Hey Evander dude, I'm challenging you to a deal right now, no backing down!" Hisaki ran past me out of the ring of goons, his Midas card out and ready. The challenge was made at this point, there was no way for Evander to back down.

"You're not a Jumper, I have no quarrel with you. Withdraw your challenge or face the consequences." The corner of Hisaki's mouth grinned at Evander's request.

"Fat chance you overdressed rich boy, no one manipulates my friends into beating people up, especially not one of my other friends!" Evander scowled in annoyance and took out his Midas card. As both deals opened, the rest of Evander's crew backed off a little, not wanting to get caught in the fighting.

My back was to Hisaki and Evander at this point, having moved a fair distance away from Evander and Hisaki in order to prevent any intervention of my own deal. Swiping my card over my face, I brought Miyoko out to the battlefield, and she didn't look very happy at all.

Unlike our last few deals, our opponent wasn't some kind of crazy monster. This time the asset appeared to be a man in his early twenties, unusually buff, wearing only shorts, and had knifes for hair. _Good god, this is going to end with s crossing of swords isn't it._

"Micro three million!" The blade haired asset immediately had six long knives in his hand, and throwing of them right at me before Miyoko could block it, the blade flying through the air at a shocking speed, hitting me but thankfully only scratching the right side of my face. _Too close._ The blade guy tried to throw the other five knives but they were all intercepted by Miyoko.

"Micro five million." I responded calmly, sending hundreds of ice shards in a spread through the sky. Unwilling to let up the pressure, and wanting to set up the perfect trap, I launched a forty million Mezzoflation right afterward, forcing my opponent to make a choice, take the hit form the micro, or get frozen in place long enough for Miyoko to bankrupt the guy.

"Why you, Mezzoflation ninety million!" After the 'flation was invested, small knives began to swarm around the asset in a barrier than slowly expanded outward, the ice shards eaten right away and the wave of entombing ice stopped as well. _He stopped all that with just one attack, that's insane! _

But it wasn't even over for me just yet, the knife barrier was expanding outward, rapidly approaching Miyoko and I. Thinking quickly, I tried to think of a way to get us inside that barrier without getting skewered, but nothing was coming to mind. Both the Micro and the Mezzo would be useless against this type of barrier, and although our Macro Blizzard Zero gave Miyoko incredible speed, I was unsure if she could navigate that many knives. However, in the number of knives could be reduced…

There wasn't time to explain my plan, I invested fifty million into a micro and ordered Miyoko to fire directly at the asset, who was focusing all of his energy to expand the sphere of sharp blades of death. My asset looked confused but fired the shards anyway, sending them crashing into the whirlwind, each shard destroying a knife along with itself.

With a small hole created, I charged up a five billion Blizzard Zero, my biggest investment yet. It was a huge gamble, if this attack hit the asset, he would probably lose control of the sphere, giving us a clear shot to the entre, but if it failed it would leave me almost totally broke. _All in, come on Miyoko!_

The blue haired asset charged forward, twin blades of ice now in her hands. The section that we had blasted with ice shards just a moment before was already beginning to fill with new knives, leaving only a small hole for her to get through. In the blink of an eye she charged into the storm, turning sideways to dodge two knives going for her arm and jumped to avoid one more aimed for her foot. A mid-air cartwheel sent her spinning back to her feet and charging once more, she made it!

Both Entre and asset looked shocked, but could do nothing in time to stop the onslaught, Miyoko slashed at the asset three times, then gave him a swift kick to the head to knock him to the ground. With the asset down, the knives fell, sharp ends pointed down.

"Miyoko, above you!" But my asset was already a step ahead of me, blocking the incoming blades with her swords, leaving the opposing entre and asset the only ones taking hits.

I watched from a safe distance as Miyoko began to cut at the Entre the same why she did Kotaro, slicing him to pieces quickly. Unfortunatly for us, this Entre had more fight in him.

"Macro ten billion, go for the Entre!" The knife-haired asset stood up, now carrying one very large machete, equal to a twenty billion direct, and looked very pissed off. That blade could cut me down in one strike! The asset grinned, bringing his weapon up high above his head before slamming it downward. Moving as fast as I could once I saw him start to bring the weapon down, I rolled to my left, dodging the blow.

As the skyscraper weapon crashed downward, I could hear screams of surprise from Hisaki and Evander, clearly the weapon has influenced the deal.

"Watch it you idiot!" I heard Evander roar from behind me. The asset looked confused for a minute, but then it was over. Apparently Miyoko had been rapidly draining the funds of the Entre, nearly bankrupting him so quickly before he was able to try and sell his stocks. Watch was still coming from the guy's Midas card, meaning he wasn't totally done yet, but looked to panic stricken to try and recover. It was clear that unless the asset landed a big hit on me, they wouldn't survive.

The knife haired asset looked panic stricken, and brought up his abomination of a weapon for one desperate attack, and I had a feeling I wasn't going to dodge this one.

"Miyoko, blade!" Understanding the meaning of my words, she threw of her weapons right at me, the blade of ice sailing through the air spinning. _Oh dear me._

Holding out my hand and focusing on the blade, I was surprised when the hilt slammed into my hand perfectly. The skill of an asset to throw a dangerous weapon to her Entre, gotta love it sometimes.

With only a second to react, I brought up the blade, forced to hold the blade end in my left hand as the giant machete slammed down. Luckily for me I was close enough to the asset so the blade couldn't pick up enough force to shatter the blade, but my left hand was clearly severely injured from the maneuver.

From this point it only took Miyoko another three seconds with her single blade to finish off the Entre, causing them both to disappear and my wound to heal. I sighed in relief, but Miyoko looked shocked, pointing behind me.

I found myself equally as surprised when I turned around to find Hisaki disappearing, Mecha on the ground in pieces. I saw Evander recalling his asset before I had a chance to see it. _Son of a-_

"Well he was a nuisance, but where were we." Evander looked from me to the large divot left in the ground from the giant machete. "I see you've beaten one of my guys already, too bad, _next!_"

Just as he finished his sentence, an announcement came from behind me, in the direction I had been fighting the former Entre, but a lot farther away.

"Sylva is yours." Looked behind me, I noticed that someone was selling their asset. Not like selling a stock, they were selling the _asset_.

"Mine!" Reacting quickly, I used seven billion, more than half of what I got from my last deal, and managed to claim the asset for myself in the mist of the shock. My Midas card confirmed that I had bought the asset successfully, and about five seconds after that a scream erupted from around the corner. _Wait, did that guy just lose seven billion that quickly? You'd have to cut them down as fast as Miyoko just did to do that!_

I barley saw him walk around the block, but his Midas card was in his left hand, his feathers for hair were turning from a fiery red to a neutral blue. His asset, a happy looking girl in dark clothing followed closely behind him. But there was one feature this boy had that shocked me above all else, something I didn't see coming.

The boy had wings.

"What is going on over here?" _What the fu-_

**Enjoy your cliff-hanger. The last chapter to this little story is next week.**


	13. An update on the situation: CH13 SOON!

**Alright everyone, it's been almost two weeks since I let you guys know that chapter 13 was delayed due to BlageTheYordle being a little slow. (Okay VERY slow -_-) So know It's time I give you guys an update on what's going on.**

**Things have been REALLY crazy around school, so I haven't had time to work on the new side project. At this point Blage is almost fully caught up to me and about ready to start working on 13, but for the moment we're still working on catchup.**

**To refresh, THIS STORY IS NOT ABANDONED.**

**If all else fails and Blage isn't ready to go by the turn of the year, I'll finish the chapter myself, and move on. In the meantime I'll be working on stuff for the side project, but just be warned that you probably won't see anything on that here for a long while.**

**In the meantime, go read BlageTheYordle's "The Story of Nick" since the details will be somewhat important to future chapters of "The Story of Kevin: Frozen"**


	14. Update 2: About to start, NEW FIC SOON

**Hey guys, Week 4 since chapter 12, so here's where we stand THIS week:**

**Blage is ALMOST THERE! Like seriously, one more chapters worth of content (if even that) and he's there and we'll start the writing process. I'm really sorry this is taking so long but it's out of my hands right now! In the meantime, I've started the first chapter for my side project, and I'll try and get that posted Tuesday or Wednesday, tomorrow night if I can get it done that fast! (Don't count on that!)**


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